V    I  -n         <-> 


r^-  Cc 


•SOV^       "%3AINIl-3V^ 


k 


MRS.  BISHOP  (ISABELLA  L.  BIRD).  Frontispiece,  vol.  1. 


JOUKNEYS 


PEESIA  AND  KUKDISTAN 


BY   MRS.    BISHOP 

(ISABELLA  L.  BIRD) 

HONORARY   FELLOW   OF  THE   ROYAL   SCOTTISH   GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY 

ATJTHOB   OF    '  SIX  MONTHS   IN  THE   SANDWICH    ISLANDS ' 

'  UNBEATEN   TRACKS    IN   JAPAN,'    ETC. 


TWO  VOLUMES— VOL.  I. 


WITH    PORTRAIT,   MAPS,   AND    ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW  YORK:    G.  P.   PUTNAM'S    SONS 

LONDON:    JOHN   MUREAY 

1891 


WORKS  BY  MRS.  BISHOP. 


"  Miss  Bird's  fascinating  and  instructive  work  on  Japan  fully  maintains 
her  well-earned  reputation  as  a  traveller  of  the  first  order,  and  a  graphic 
and  picturesque  writer.  Miss  Bird  is  a  born  traveller,  fearless,  enthusiastic, 
patient,  instructed,  knowing  as  well  what  as  how  to  describe.  No  peril 
daunts  her,  no  prospect  of  fatigue  or  discomfort  disheartens  or  repels 
her." — Quarterly  Review. 


I.   UNBEATEN  TRACKS  IN  JAPAN,  Including  Visits  to  the 
Aborigines  of  Yezo  and  the  Shrines  of  Nikko  and  Ise. 
With  Illustrations.     Crown  8vo.     $2.50. 

II.  A  LADY'S  LIFE  IN  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAINS. 

With  Illustrations.     Post  8vo.     $1.75. 

III.    THE  HAWAIIAN  ARCHIPELAGO  :  Six  Months  Among 

the  Palm  Groves,  Coral  Reefs,  and  Volcanoes  of  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

With  Illustrations.     Crown  8vo.     $2. 50. 

IV.  THE  GOLDEN  CHERSONESE  AND  THE  WAY  THITHER. 

With  Map  and  Illustrations.     Crown  8vo.     $2.00. 


G.   P.   PUTNAM'S  SONS. 


PEEFACE 


THE  letters  of  which  these  volumes  are  composed  embrace 
the  second  half  of  journeys  in  the  East  extending  over 
a  period  of  two  years.1  They  attempt  to  be  a  faithful 
record  of  facts  and  impressions,  but  were  necessarily 
written  in  haste  at  the  conclusion  of  fatiguing  marches, 
and  often  in  circumstances  of  great  discomfort  and  diffi- 
culty, and  I  relied  for  their  correction  in  the  event  of 
publication  on  notes  made  with  much  care.  Unfortu- 
nately I  was  robbed  of  nearly  the  whole  of  these,  partly 
on  my  last  journey  in  Persia  and  partly  on  the  Turkish 
frontier, — a  serious  loss,  which  must  be  my  apology  to  the 
reader  for  errors  which,  without  this  misfortune,  would 
not  have  occurred. 

The  bibliography  of  Persia  is  a  very  extensive  one, 
and  it  may  well  be  that  I  have  little  that  is  new  to 
communicate,  except  on  a  part  of  Luristan  previously 
untraversed  by  Europeans ;  but  each  traveller  receives 
a  different  impression  from  those  made  upon  his  pre- 
decessors, and  I  hope  that  my  book  may  be  accepted  as 
an  honest  attempt  to  make  a  popular  contribution  to  the 
sum  of  knowledge  of  a  country  and  people  with  which 
we  are  likely  to  be  brought  into  closer  relations. 

1  I  left  England  with  a  definite  object  in  view,  to  which  others  were 
subservient,  but  it  is  not  necessary  to  obtrude  it  on  the  reader. 


viii  PREFACE 

As  these  volumes  are  simply  travels  in  Persia  and 
Eastern  Asia  Minor,  and  are  not  a  book  on  either  country, 
the  references  to  such  subjects  as  were  not  within  the 
sphere  of  my  observation  are  brief  and  incidental.  The 
administration  of  government,  the  religious  and  legal 
systems,  the  tenure  of  land,  and  the  mode  of  taxation 
are  dismissed  in  a  few  lines,  and  social  customs  are  only 
described  when  I  came  in  contact  with  them.  The 
Ilyats,  or  nomadic  tribes,  form  a  very  remarkable  element 
of  the  population  of  Persia,  but  I  have  only  noticed  two 
of  their  divisions — the  Bakhtiari  and  Feili  Lurs.  The 
antiquities  of  Persia  are  also  passed  over  with  hardly  a 
remark,  as  well  as  many  other  subjects,  which  have  been 
"  threshed  out "  by  previous  writers  with  more  or  less  of 
accuracy. 

I  make  these  omissions  with  all  the  more  satisfaction, 
because  most  that  is  "  knowable  "  concerning  Persia  will 
be  accessible  on  the  publication  of  a  work  now  in  the 
Press,  Persia  and  the  Persian  Question,  by  the  Hon.  George 
N.  Curzon,  M.P.,  who  has  not  only  travelled  extensively 
in  the  country,  but  has  bestowed  such  enormous  labour 
and  research  upon  it,  and  has  had  such  exceptional 
opportunities  of  acquiring  the  latest  and  best  official 
information,  that  his  volumes  may  fairly  be  described  as 
"  exhaustive." 

It  is  always  a  pleasant  duty  to  acknowledge  kindness, 
and  I  am  deeply  grateful  to  several  friends  for  the  help 
which  they  have  given  me  in  many  ways,  and  for  the 
trouble  which  some  of  them  have  taken  to  recover  facts 
which  were  lost  with  my  notes,  as  well  as  for  the  careful 
revision  of  a  portion  of  my  letters  in  MS.  I  am  indebted 
to  the  Indian  authorities  for  the  materials  for  a  sketch 
map,  for  photographs  from  which  many  of  the  illustrations 
are  taken,  and  for  the  use  of  a  valuable  geographical 
report,  and  to  Mr.  Thistleton  Dyer,  Director  of  the  Royal 


PREFACE  ix 

Botanic  Gardens  at  Kew,  for  the  identification  of  a  few 
of  my  botanical  specimens. 

In  justice  to  the  many  kind  friends  who  received  me 
into  their  homes,  I  am  anxious  to  disclaim  having  either 
echoed  or  divulged  their  views  on  Persian  or  Turkish 
subjects,  and  to  claim  and  accept  the  fullest  responsibility 
for  the  opinions  expressed  in  these  pages,  which,  whether 
right  or  wrong,  are  wholly  my  own.  It  is  from  those 
who  know  Persia  and  Kurdistan  the  best  that  I  am  sure 
of  receiving  the  most  kindly  allowance  wherever,  in  spite 
of  an  honest  desire  to  be  accurate,  I  have  fallen  into 
mistakes. 

The  retention,  not  only  of  the  form,  but  of  the  reality 
of  diary  letters,  is  not  altogether  satisfactory  either  to 
author  or  reader,  for  the  author  sacrifices  the  literary 
and  artistic  arrangement  of  his  materials,  and  however 
ruthlessly  omissions  are  made,  the  reader  is  apt  to  find 
himself  involved  in  a  multiplicity  of  minor  details,  treated 
in  a  fashion  which  he  is  inclined  to  term  "  slipshod,"  and 
to  resent  the  egotism  which  persistently  clings  to  familiar 
correspondence.  Still,  even  with  all  the  disadvantages  of 
this  form  of  narrative,  I  think  that  letters  are  the  best 
mode  of  placing  the  reader  in  the  position  of  the  traveller, 
and  of  enabling  him  to  share,  not  only  first  impressions 
in  their  original  vividness,  and  the  interests  and  enjoy- 
ments of  travelling,  but  the  hardships,  difficulties,  and 
tedium  which  are  their  frequent  accompaniments ! 

For  the  lack  of  vivacity  which,  to  my  thinking,  per- 
vades the  following  letters,  I  ask  the  reader's  indulgence. 
They  were  originally  written,  and  have  since  been  edited, 
under  the  heavy  and  abiding  shadow,  not  only  of  the  loss 
of  the  beloved  and  only  sister  who  was  the  inspiration 
of  my  former  books  of  travel,  and  to  whose  completely 
sympathetic  interest  they  owed  whatever  of  brightness 
they  possessed,  but  of  my  beloved  husband,  whose  able 


x  PREFACE 

and  careful  revision  accompanied  my  last  volume  through 
the  Press. 

Believing  that  these  letters  faithfully  reflect  what  I 
saw  of  the  regions  of  which  they  treat,  I  venture  to 
ask  for  them  the  same  kindly  and  lenient  criticism  with 
which  my  travels  in  the  Far  East  and  elsewhere  were 
received  in  bygone  years,  and  to  express  the  hope  that 
they  may  help  to  lead  towards  that  goal  to  which  all 
increase  of  knowledge  of  races  and  beliefs  tends — a  truer 
and  kindlier  recognition  of  the  brotherhood  of  man,  as 
seen  in  the  light  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God. 

ISABELLA  L.  BISHOP. 

November  12,  1891. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

IN  VOLUME  I. 


Mrs.  Bishop  (Isabella  L.  Bird) 

A  Gopher 

A  Turkish  Frontier  Fort    . 

Lodgings  for  Travellers 

Persian  Bread-making 

The  Shrine  of  Fatima 

A  Dervish 

Castle  of  Ardal 

Imam  Kuli  Khan 

The  Karun  at  Dupulan 

AH  Jan     . 

Armenian  Women  of  Libasgun 

Wall  and  Gate  of  Libasgun 

A  Perso-Bakhtiari  Cradle  . 

A  Dastgird  Tent 


Frontispiece 

Page  19 

To  face  page  78 

82 

.  159 
.  167 
.  237 
.  318 
.  326 

To  face  page  351 
.  362 
.  366 

To  face  page  368 

.      372 

To  face  page  378 


GLOSSARY 


Abambar,  a  covered  reservoir. 

Agha,  a  master. 

Andarun,  women's  quarters,  a  haram. 

Arak,  a  coarse  spirit. 

Badfflr,  wind-tower. 

Badragah,  a  parting  escort. 

Balakhana,  an  upper  room. 

Bringals,  egg  plants. 

Chapar,  post. 

Cfiapar  Khana,  post-house. 

Chapi,  the  Bakhtiari  national  dance. 

Outrvadar,  a  muleteer. 

Farash,  lit.  a  carpet-spreader. 

Farsakh,  from   three  and  a  half  to 

four  miles. 
Gardan,  a  pass. 

Qaz,  a  sweetmeat  made  from  manna. 
Gelims,  thin  carpets,  drugget. 
Gheva,  a  summer  shoe. 
Gholam,    an    official    messenger     or 

attendant. 
Hakim,  a  governor. 
Hakim,  a  physician. 
Hammam,  a  Turkish  or  hot  bath. 
llyats,  the  nomadic  tribes  of  Persia. 
Imam,  a  saint,  a  religious  teacher. 
Imamzada,  a  saint's  shrine. 
fstikbal,  a  procession  of  welcome. 
Jid,  a  horse's  outer  blanket. 
Kdbob,     pieces     of    skewered     meat 

seasoned  and  toasted. 


Kafir,  an  infidel,  a  Christian. 

Kah,  chopped  straw. 

Kajawehs,  horse-panniers. 

Kalian,  a  "hubble-bubble"  or  water- 
pipe  for  tobacco. 

Kamarband,  a  girdle. 

Kanaat,  an  underground  water- 
channel. 

Kanat,  the  upright  side  of  a  tent. 

Karsi,  a  wooden  frame  for  covering  a 
fire-hole. 

Katirgi  (Turkish),  a  muleteer. 

Ketchuda,  a  headman  of  a  village. 

Khan,  lord  or  prince  ;  a  designation 
as  common  as  esquire. 

Khan  (Turkish),  an  inn. 

Khanjar,  a  curved  dagger. 

Khanji  (Turkish),  the  keeper  of  a 
khan. 

Khanum,  a  lady  of  rank. 

Khurjins,  saddle  bags. 

Kizik,  a  slab  of  animal  fuel. 

Kotal,  lit.  a  ladder,  a  pass. 

Kourbana  (Syriac),  the  Holy  Com- 
munion. 

Kran,  eightpence. 

Kuh,  mountain. 

Lira  (Turkish),  about  £1. 

Malek  (Syriac,  lit.  king),  a  chief  or 
headman. 

Mamachi,  midwife. 


GLOSSARY 


Mangel,  a  brazier. 

Mast,  curdled  milk. 

Medresseh,  a  college. 

Mirza,  a  scribe,  secretary,  or  gentle- 
man. An  educated  man. 

Modakel,  illicit  percentage. 

Mollah,  a  religious  teacher. 

Munshi,  a  clerk,  a  teacher  of  languages. 

Xamad,  felt. 

Nasr,  steward. 

Odah  (Turkish),  a  room  occupied  by 
human  beings  and  animals. 

Piastre,  a  Turkish  coin  worth  two- 
pence-halfpenny. 

Pirahan,  a  chemise  or  shirt. 

Pish-kash,  a  nominal  present. 

Qasha  (Syriac),  a  priest. 

Rayahs,  subject  Syrians. 

Roghan,  clarified  butter. 

Samovar,  a  Russian  tea-urn . 

Sartip,  a  general. 

Seraidar,  the  keeper  of  a  caravanserai. 


S/iarbat,  a  fruit  syrup. 

Shroff,  a  money-changer. 

Shuldari   (Slwoldarry),  a  small  tent 

with  two  poles  and  a  ridge  pole, 

but  without  kanats. 
Shulwars,  wide  trousers. 
Sowar,  a  horseman,  a  horse  soldier. 
TakcJiah,  a  recess  in  a  wall. 
Taktrawan,  a  mule  litter. 
Tandur,  an  oven  in  a  floor. 
Tang,  a  rift  or  defile. 
\Tufangchi,  a  foot  soldier,  an  armed 

footman. 

'Tii/man,  seven  shillings  and  sixpence. 
Vakil,  an  authorised  representative. 
•Vdkil-u-Dowleh,  agent  of  Government. 
Yabu,  a  pony  or  inferior  horse. 
Yailaks,  summer  quarters. 
Yekdan,  a  mule  or  camel  trunk,  made 

of  leather. 

Yolwort  (Turkish),  curdled  milk. 
Zaptieh  (Turkish),  a  gendarme. 


LETTEE  I 

BASRAH,  ASIATIC  TURKEY,  Jan.  1,  1890. 

A  shamed  or  N.W.  wind  following  on  the  sirocco  which 
had  accompanied  us  up  "  the  Gulf  "  was  lashing  the  shallow 
waters  of  the  roadstead  into  reddish  yeast  as  we  let  go 
the  anchor  opposite  the  sea  front  of  Bushire,  the  most 
important  seaport  in  Persia.  The  Persian  man-of-war 
Persepolis,  officered  by  Germans,  H.M.  ship  Sphinx,  two  big 
steamers  owned  in  London,  a  British -built  three-masted 
clipper,  owned  and  navigated  by  Arabs,  and  a  few  Arab 
native  vessels  tugged  at  their  anchors  between  two  and 
three  miles  from  the  shore.  Native  buggalows  clustered 
and  bumped  round  the  trading  vessels,  hanging  on  with 
difficulty,  or  thumped  and  smashed  through  the  short 
waves,  close  on  the  wind,  easily  handled  and  sailing 
magnificently,  while  the  Residency  steam-launch,  puffing 
and  toiling,  was  scarcely  holding  her  own  against  a  heavy 
head  sea. 

Bushire,  though  it  has  a  number  of  two-storied 
houses  and  a  population  of  15,000,  has  a  most  insignifi- 
cant appearance,  and  lies  so  low  that  from  the  Assyria's 
deck  it  gave  the  impression  of  being  below  the  sea-level. 
The  shamal  was  raising  a  sand  storm  in  the  desert  beyond ; 
the  sand  was  drifting  over  it  in  yellow  clouds,  the  moun- 
tains which  at  a  greater  or  less  distance  give  a  wild 
sublimity  to  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Gulf  were  blotted 

VOL.  I  B 


2  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  i 

out,  and  a  blurred  and  windy  shore  harmonised  with  a 
blurred  and  windy  sea. 

The  steam-launch,  which  after  several  baffled  attempts 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  steamer's  side,  brought  letters 
of  welcome  from  Colonel  Eoss,  who  for  eighteen  years  has 
filled  the  office  of  British  Resident  in  the  Persian  Gulf 
with  so  much  ability,  judgment,  and  tact  as  to  have  earned 
the  respect  and  cordial  esteem  of  Persians,  Arabs,  the 
mixed  races,  and  Europeans  alike.  Of  his  kindness  and 
hospitality  there  is  no  occasion  to  write,  for  every  stranger 
who  visits  the  Gulf  has  large  experience  of  both. 

The  little  launch,  though  going  shorewards  with  the 
wind,  was  tossed  about  like  a  cork,  shipping  deluges  of 
spray,  and  it  was  so  cold  and  generally  tumultuous,  that 
it  was  a  relief  to  exchange  the  shallow,  wind-lashed 
waters  of  the  roadstead  for  the  shelter  of  a  projecting 
sea-wall  below  the  governor's  house.  A  curricle,  with 
two  fiery  little  Arab  horses,  took  us  over  the  low  windy 
stretch  of  road  which  lies  behind  Bushire,  through  a  part 
of  the  town  and  round  again  to  the  sea-shore,  on  which 
long  yellow  surges  were  breaking  thunderously  in  drifts 
of  creamy  foam.  The  Residency,  a  large  Persian  house, 
with  that  sort  of  semi -fortified  look  which  the  larger 
Eastern  houses  are  apt  to  have,  is  built  round  court- 
yards, and  has  a  fine  entrance,  which  was  lined  with  well- 
set-up  men  of  a  Bombay  marine  battalion.  As  is  usual 
in  Persia  and  Turkey,  the  reception  rooms,  living  rooms, 
and  guest  rooms  are  upstairs,  opening  on  balconies,  the 
lower  part  being  occupied  by  the  servants  and  as  domestic 
offices.  Good  fires  were  a  welcome  adjunct  to  the  genial 
hospitality  of  Colonel  Ross  and  his  family,  for  the  mer- 
cury, which  for  the  previous  week  had  ranged  from  84° 
to  93°,  since  the  sunrise  of  that  day  had  dropped  to  45°, 
and  the  cold,  damp  wind  suggested  an  English  February. 
Even  the  Residency,  thick  as  its  walls  are,  was  invaded 


LETTER  I  THE  EXTERNALS  OF  BUSHIRE  3 

by  sea  sand,  and  penetrated  by  the  howlings  and  shriek- 
ings  of  the  shamal  and  the  low  hiss  at  intervals  of  wind- 
blown spray. 

This  miserable  roadstead  does  a  large  trade,1  though 
every  bale  and  chest  destined  for  the  cities  of  the  interior 
must  be  packed  on  mules'  backs  for  carriage  over  the 
horrible  and  perilous  kotals  or  rock  ladders  of  the  inter- 
vening mountain  ranges.  The  chief  caravan  route  in 
Persia  starts  from  Bushire  via  Shiraz,  Isfahan,  Kashan, 
and  Kum,  to  Tihran.  A  loaded  mule  takes  from  thirty 
to  thirty -five  days  to  Isfahan,  and  from  Isfahan  to 
Tihran  from  twelve  to  sixteen  days,  according  to  the 
state  of  the  roads. 

Bushire  does  not  differ  in  appearance  from  an  ordi- 
nary eastern  town.  Irregular  and  uncleanly  alleys,  dead 
mud  walls,  with  here  and  there  a  low  doorway,  bazars 
in  which  the  requirements  of  caravans  are  largely  con- 
sidered, and  in  which  most  of  the  manufactured  goods 
are  English,  a  great  variety  in  male  attire,  some  small 
mosques,  a  marked  predominance  of  the  Arab  physiognomy 
and  costume,  and  ceaseless  strings  of  asses  bringing  skins 
of  water  from  wells  a  mile  from  the  town,  are  my  impres- 

1  According  to  the  returns  for  1889,  the  British  tonnage  entering  the 
Bushire  roadstead  was  111,745  out  of  118,570  tons,  and  the  imports  from 
British  territory  amounted  to  a  value  of  £744,018  out  of  £790,832.  The 
exports  from  Bushire  in  the  same  year  amounted  to  £535,076,  that  of 
opium  being  largely  on  the  increase.  Among  other  things  exported  are 
pistachio  nuts,  gum,  almonds,  madder,  wool,  and  cotton.  Regarding  gum, 
the  wars  in  the  Soudan  have  affected  the  supply  of  it,  and  Persia  is  reaping 
the  benefit,  large  quantities  now  being  collected  from  certain  shrubs,  especi- 
ally from  the  wild  almond,  which  abounds  at  high  altitudes.  The  draw- 
back is  that  firewood  and  charcoal  are  becoming  consequently  dearer  and 
scarcer.  The  gum  exported  in  1889  was  7472  cwts.,  as  against  14,918  in 
1 888,  but  the  value  was  more  than  the  same. ! 

The  imports  into  Bushire,  as  comparing  1889  with  1888,  have 
increased  by  £244,186,  and  the  exports  by  £147,862.  The  value  of  the 
export  of  opium,  chiefly  to  China,  was  £231,521,  as  against  £148,523  in 
1888. 


4  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  i 

sions  of  the  first  Persian  city  that  I  have  seen.  The 
Persian  element,  however,  except  in  officialism  and  the 
style  of  building,  is  not  strong,  the  population  being 
chiefly  composed  of  "  Gulf  Arabs."  There  are  nearly 
fifty  European  residents,  including  the  telegraph  staff 
and  the  representatives  of  firms  doing  a  very  large  busi- 
ness with  England,  the  Persian  Gulf  Trading  Company, 
Messrs.  Hotz  and  Company,  Messrs.  Gray,  Paul,  and 
Company,  and  the  British  India  Steam  Navigation  Com- 
pany, which  has  enormously  developed  the  trade  of  the 
Gulf. 

Bushire  is  the  great  starting-point  of  travellers  from 
India  who  desire  "  to  go  home  through  Persia  "  by  Shiraz 
and  Persepolis.  Charvadars  (muleteers)  and  the  neces- 
sary outfit  are  obtainable,  but  even  the  kindness  of  the 
Resident  fails  to  overcome  the  standing  difficulty  of 
obtaining  a  Persian  servant  who  is  both  capable  and 
trustworthy.  Having  been  forewarned  by  him  not  to 
trust  to  Bushire  for  this  indispensable  article,  I  had 
brought  from  India  a  Persian  of  good  antecedents  and 
character,  who,  desiring  to  return  to  his  own  country,  was 
willing  to  act  as  my  interpreter,  courier,  and  sole  attend- 
ant. Grave  doubts  of  his  ability  to  act  in  the  two 
latter  capacities  occurred  to  me  before  I  left  Karachi, 
grew  graver  on  the  voyage,  and  were  quite  confirmed  as 
we  tossed  about  in  the  Eesidency  launch,  where  the 
"young  Persian  gentleman,"  as  he  styled  himself,  sat 
bolt  upright  with  a  despairing  countenance,  dressed  in  a 
tall  hat,  a  beautifully  made  European  suit,  faultless  tan 
boots,  and  snowy  collar  and  cuffs,  a  man  of  truly  refined 
feeling  and  manners,  but  hopelessly  out  of  place.  I 
pictured  him  helpless  among  the  ddshdbilU  and  roughnesses 
of  a  camp,  and  anticipated  my  insurmountable  reluctance 
to  ask  of  him  menial  service,  and  was  glad  to  find  that 
the  same  doubts  had  occurred  to  himself. 


LETTER  I  HADJI  5 

I  lost  no  time  in  interviewing  Hadji, — a  Gulf  Arab, 
who  has  served  various  travellers,  has  been  ten  times  to 
Mecca,  went  to  Windsor  with  the  horses  presented  to  the 
Queen  by  the  Sultan  of  Muscat,  speaks  more  or  less  of 
six  languages,  knows  English  fairly,  has  some  recom- 
mendations, and  professes  that  he  is  "  up  to "  all  the 
requirements  of  camp  life.  The  next  morning  I  engaged 
him  as  "  man  of  all  work,"  and  though  a  big,  wild-looking 
Arab  in  a  rough  abba,  and  a  big  turban,  with  a  long 
knife  and  a  revolver  in  his  girdle,  scarcely  looks  like  a 
lady's  servant,  I  hope  he  may  suit  me,  though  with  these 
antecedents  he  is  more  likely  to  be  a  scamp  than  a 
treasure. 

The  continuance  of  the  shamal  prevented  the  steamer 
from  unloading  in  the  exposed  roadstead,  and  knocked 
the  launch  about  as  we  rejoined  her.  We  called  at 
the  telegraph  station  at  Fao,  and  brought  off  Dr.  Bruce, 
the  head  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society's  Mission  at 
Julfa,  whose  long  and  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
country  and  people  will  make  him  a  great  acquisition  on 
the  Tigris. 

"  About  sixty  miles  above  the  bar  outside  the  Shat- 
el-Arab  "  (the  united  Tigris  and  Euphrates),  "  forty  miles 
above  the  entrance  to  that  estuary  at  Fao,  and  twenty 
miles  below  the  Turkish  port  of  Basrah,  the  present 
main  exit  of  the  Karun  river  flows  into  the  Shat-el- 
Arab  from  the  north-east  by  an  artificial  channel,  whose 
etymology  testifies  to  its  origin,  the  Haffar"  (dug-out) 
"  canal.  When  this  canal  was  cut,  no  one  knows.  .  .  . 
Where  it  flows  into  the  Shat-el-Arab  it  is  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  in  width,  with  a  depth  of  from  twenty 
to  thirty  feet. 

"  The  town  of  Mohammerah  is  situated  a  little  more 
than  a  mile  up  the  canal  on  its  right  bank,  and  is  a 
filthy  place,  with  about  2000  inhabitants,  and  consists 


6  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  i 

mainly  of  mud  huts  and  hovels,  backed  by  a  superb 
fringe  of  date  palms." l  In  the  rose  flush  of  a  winter 
morning  we  steamed  slowly  past  this  diplomatically 
famous  confluence  of  the  Haffar  and  Shat-el-Arab,  at 
the  angle  of  which  the  Persians  have  lately  built  a 
quay,  a  governor's  house,  and  a  large  warehouse,  in 
expectation  of  a  trade  which  shows  few  signs  of  develop- 
ment. 

A  winter  morning  it  was  indeed,  splendid  and  in- 
vigorating after  the  ferocious  heat  of  the  Gulf.  To-day 
there  has  been  frost ! 

The  Shat-el-Arab  is  a  noble  river  or  estuary.  From 
both  its  Persian  and  Turkish  shores,  however,  mountains 
have  disappeared,  and  dark  forests  of  date  palms  inter- 
sected by  canals  fringe  its  margin  heavily,  and  extend 
to  some  distance  inland.  The  tide  is  strong,  and  such 
native  boats  as  belems,  buggalows,  and  dug-outs,  loaded 
with  natives  and  goods,  add  a  cheerful  element  of  busy 
life. 

We  anchored  near  Basrah,  below  the  foreign  settle- 
ment, and  had  the  ignominy  of  being  placed  for  twenty- 
four  hours  in  quarantine,  flying  the  degrading  yellow 
flag.  Basrah  has  just  been  grievously  ravaged  by  the 
cholera,  which  has  not  only  carried  off  three  hundred  of 
the  native  population  daily  for  some  time,  but  the  British 
Vice -Consul  and  his  children.  Cholera  still  exists  in 
Turkey  while  it  is  extinct  in  Bombay,  and  the  imposition 
of  quarantine  on  a  ship  with  a  "  clean  bill  of  health " 
seems  devised  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  extract  fees, 
to  annoy,  and  to  produce  a  harassing  impression  of 
Turkish  officialism. 

After  this  detention  we  steamed  up  to  the  anchorage, 
which  is  in  front  of  a  few  large  bungalows  which  lie 

1  "The  Karun  River,"  Hon.  G.  Curzon,  M.P.,  Proceedings  of  R.G.S., 
September  1890. 


LETTER  i  THE  "  CITY  OF  DATES "  7 

between  the  belt  of  palms  and  the  river,  and  form  the 
European  settlement  of  Margil.  A  fever-haunted  swamp, 
with  no  outlet  but  the  river ;  canals  exposing  at  low 
water  deep,  impassable,  and  malodorous  slime  separating 
the  bungalows;  a  climate  which  is  damp,  hot,  malarious, 
and  prostrating  except  for  a  few  weeks  in  winter,  and  a 
total  absence  of  all  the  resources  and  amenities  of  civili- 
sation, make  Basrah  one  of  the  least  desirable  places  to 
which  Europeans  are  exiled  by  the  exigencies  of  com- 
merce. It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  the  few 
residents  exercise  unbounded  hospitality,  which  is  the 
most  grateful  memory  which  the  stranger  retains  of  the 
brief  halt  by  the  "  Eiver  of  Arabia." 

This  is  the  dead  season  in  the  "city  of  dates."  An 
unused  river  steamer,  a  large  English  trader,  two  Turkish 
ships -of -war  painted  white,  the  Mejidieh,  one  of  two 
English-owned  steamers  which  are  allowed  to  ply  on  the 
Tigris,  and  the  Assyria  of  the  B.I.S.N.  Co.,  constitute  the 
fleet  at  anchor.  As  at  Bushire,  all  cargo  must  be  loaded  and 
unloaded  by  boats,  and  crowds  of  native  craft  hanging 
on  to  the  trading  vessels  give  a  little  but  not  much 
vivacity. 

October,  after  the  ingathering  of  the  date  harvest,  is 
the  busiest  month  here.  The  magnitude  of  the  date 
industry  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  in  1890, 
60,000  tons  of  dates  were  exported  from  Basrah,  20,000 
in  boxes,  and  the  remainder  in  palm-leaf  mats,  one 
vessel  taking  1800  tons.  The  quantity  of  wood  imported 
for  the  boxes  was  7000  tons  in  cut  lengths,  with  iron 
hooping,  nails,  and  oiled  paper  for  inside  wrapping, 
brought  chiefly  from  England. 

A  hundred  trees  can  be  grown  on  an  acre  of  ground. 
The  mature  tree  gives  a  profit  of  4s.,  making  the  profit 
on  an  acre  £20  annually.  The  Governor  of  Moham- 
merah  has  lately  planted  30,000  trees,  and  date  palms  to 


8  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  i 

the  number  of  60,000  have  been  recently  planted  on 
Persian  soil. 

It  is  said  that  there  are  160  varieties  of  dates,  but 
only  a  few  are  known  to  commerce.  These  great  sombre 
date  forests  or  "  date  gardens,"  which  no  sunshine  can 
enliven,  are  of  course  artificial,  and  depend  upon 
irrigation.  The  palms  are  propagated  by  means  of 
suckers  taken  from  the  female  date.  The  young  trees 
begin  to  bear  when  they  are  about  five  years  old,  reach 
maturity  at  nine,  and  may  be  prolific  for  two  centuries. 
Mohammed  said  wisely,  "Honour  the  palm,  it  is  your 
paternal  aunt."  One  soon  learns  here  that  it  not  only 
provides  the  people  with  nutritious  food,  but  with  build- 
ing materials,  as  well  as  with  fuel,  carpets,  ropes,  and 
mats.  But  it  is  the  least  beautiful  of  the  palms,  and 
the  dark  monotonous  masses  along  the  river  contrast 
with  my  memories  of  the  graceful  coco  palm  fringing  the 
coral  islands  of  the  Pacific. 

I  left  the  Assyria  with  regret.  The  captain  and 
officers  had  done  all  that  intelligence  and  kindness  could 
do  to  make  the  voyage  an  agreeable  one,  and  were 
altogether  successful.  On  shore  a  hospitable  reception, 
a  good  fire,  and  New  Year's  Day  come  together  appro- 
priately. The  sky  is  clear  and  cloudless,  and  the  air 
keen.  The  bungalows  belonging  to  the  European  firms 
are  dwelling-houses  above  and  offices  below,  and  are 
surrounded  by  packing-yards  and  sheds  for  goods.  In 
line  with  them  are  the  Consulates. 

The  ancient  commercial  glories  of  Basrah  are  too  well 
known  to  need  recapitulation.  Circumstances  are  doing 
much  to  give  it  something  of  renewed  importance.  The 
modern  Basrah,  a  town  which  has  risen  from  a  state  of 
decay  till  it  has  an  estimated  population  of  25,000,  is 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  at  some  distance  up  a 
picturesque  palm-fringed  canal.  Founded  by  Omar  soon 


LETTER  i  FELLOW -PASSENGERS  9 

after  the  death  of  Mohammed,  and  tossed  like  a  shuttlecock 
between  Turk  and  Persian,  it  is  now  definitely  Turkish, 
and  the  great  southern  outlet  of  Chaldsea  and  Mesopo- 
tamia, as  well  as  the  port  at  which  the  goods  passing  to 
and  from  Baghdad  "  break  bulk."  A  population  more 
thoroughly  polyglot  could  scarcely  be  found,  Turks,  Arabs, 
Sabeans,  Syrians,  Greeks,  Hindus,  Armenians,  Frenchmen, 
Wahabees,  Britons,  Jews,  Persians,  Italians,  and  Africans, 
and  there  are  even  more  creeds  than  races. 

S.S.  Mejidieh,  River  Tigris,  Jan.  4- — Leaving  Basrah 
at  4  P.M.  on  Tuesday  we  have  been  stemming  the  strong 
flood  of  the  Tigris  for  three  bright  winter  days,  in  which 
to  sit  by  a  red-hot  stove  and  sleep  under  a  pile  of 
blankets  have  been  real  luxuries  after  the  torrid  heat  of 
the  "  Gulf."  The  party  on  board  consists  of  Dr.  Bruce, 
Mr.  Hammond,  who  has  been  for  some  months  pushing 
British  trade  at  Shuster,  the  Assistant  Quartermaster- 
General  for  India,  a  French-speaking  Jewish  merchant, 
the  Hon.  G.  Curzon,  M.P.,  and  Mr.  Swabadi,  a  Hungarian 
gentleman  in  the  employment  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates 
Steam  Navigation  Company,  a  very  scholarly  man,  who  in 
the  course  of  a  long  residence  in  Southern  Turkey  has 
acquainted  himself  intimately  with  the  country  and  its 
peoples,  and  is  ever  ready  to  place  his  own  stores  of 
information  at  our  disposal.  Mr.  Curzon  has  been 
"  prospecting  "  the  Karun  river,  and  came  on  board  from 
the  Shuslian,  a  small  stern- wheel  steamer  with  a  carrying 
capacity  of  30  tons,  a  draught  when  empty  of  18  inches, 
and  when  laden  of  from  24  to  36.  She  belongs  to  the 
Messrs.  Lynch  Brothers,  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates 
S.N.  Co.  They  run  her  once  a  fortnight  at  a  considerable 
loss  between  Mohammerah  and  Ahwaz.  Her  isolated 
position  and  diminutive  size  are  a  curious  commentary 
on  the  flourish  of  trumpets  and  blether  of  exultation  with 
which  the  English  newspapers  announced  the  very  poor 


10  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  i 

concession  of  leave  to  run  steamers  on  the  Karun  be- 
tween the  Shat-el-Arab  and  Ahwaz. 

[Since  this  letter  was  written,  things  have  taken  rather 
a  singular  turn,  and  the  development  of  trade  on  the 
Karun  has  partly  fallen  into  the  hands  of  a  trading  cor- 
poration of  Persians,  the  Nasiri  Company.  By  them,  and 
under  their  representative  partner,  Haja  Mahomad,  a  man 
of  great  energy,  the  formidable  rapids  at  Ahwaz  are  being 
circumvented  by  the  construction  of  a  tramway  2400 
yards  long,  which  is  proceeding  steadily.  A  merchants' 
caravanserai  has  already  been  built  on  the  river  bank 
at  the  lower  landing-place  and  commencement  of  the 
tramway,  and  a  bakery,  butchery,  and  carpentry,  along 
with  a  cafe  and  a  grocery  and  general  goods  stores,  have 
already  been  opened  by  men  brought  to  Ahwaz  by 
H.  Mahomad. 

A  river  face  wall,  where  native  craft  are  to  lie,  is 
being  constructed  of  hewn  stone  blocks  and  sections  of 
circular  pillars,  remains  of  the  ancient  city. 

The  Nasiri  Company  has  a  small  steamer,  the  Nasiri, 
plying  on  the  lower  Karun,  chiefly  as  a  tug,  taking  up 
two  Arab  boats  of  twenty  -  seven  tons  each,  lashed 
alongside  of  her.  On  her  transference  at  the  spring 
floods  of  this  year  to  the  river  above  Ahwaz,  the  Karun, 
a  steam  launch  of  about  sixty  tons,  belonging  to  the 
Governor  of  Mohammerah,  takes  her  place  below,  and 
a  second  steamer  belonging  to  the  same  company  is 
now  running  on  the  lower  stream.  Poles  from 
Zanzibar  have  been  distributed  for  a  telegraph  line 
from  Mohammerah  to  Ahwaz.  The  Messrs.  Lynch 
have  placed  a  fine  river  steamer  of  300  tons  on  the 
route ;  but  this  enterprising  firm,  and  English  capitalists 
generally,  are  being  partially  "cut  out"  by  the  singular 
"  go"  of  this  Persian  company,  which  not  only  appears  to 
have  strong  support  from  Government  quarters,  but  has 


LETTER  i  GOING  AHEAD  1 1 

gained  the  co-operation  of  the  well-known  and  wealthy 
Sheikh  Mizal,  whose  personal  influence  in  Arabistan  is 
very  great,  and  who  has  hitherto  been  an  obstacle  to  the 
opening  of  trade  on  the  Karun. 

A  great  change  for  the  better  has  taken  place  in  the 
circumstances  of  the  population,  and  villages,  attracted  by 
trade,  are  springing  up,  which  the  Nasiri  Company  is 
doing  its  best  to  encourage.  The  land-tax  is  very  light, 
and  the  cultivators  are  receiving  every  encouragement. 
Much  wheat  was  exported  last  year,  and  there  is  a  brisk 
demand  for  river  lands  on  leases  of  sixty  years  for  the 
cultivation  of  cotton,  cereals,  sugar-cane,  and  date  palms. 

Persian  soldiers  all  have  their  donkeys,  and  at  Ahwaz 
a  brisk  and  amusing  competition  is  going  on  between  the 
soldiers  of  a  fine  regiment  stationed  there  and  the  Arabs 
for  the  transport  of  goods  past  the  rapids,  and  for  the 
conveyance  of  tramway  and  building  materials.  This 
competition  is  enabling  goods  to  pass  the  rapids  cheaply 
and  expeditiously. 

One  interesting  feature  connected  with  these  works  is 
the  rapidly  increased  well-being  of  the  Arabs.  In  less 
than  a  year  labour  at  1  kran  (8d.)  a  day  has  put  quite  a 
number  of  them  in  possession  of  a  pair  of  donkeys  and 
a  plough,  and  seed-corn  wherewith  to  cultivate  Govern- 
ment lands  on  their  own  account,  besides  leaving  a  small 
balance  in  hand  on  which  to  live  without  having  to 
borrow  on  the  coming  crop  at  frightfully  usurious  rates. 

Until  now  the  sheikhs  have  been  able  to  command 
labour  for  little  more  than  the  poorest  food ;  and  now 
many  of  the  very  poor  who  depended  on  them  have  started 
as  small  farmers,  and  things  are  rapidly  changing. 

The  careful  observer,  from  whose  report  on  Persia  to 
the  Foreign  Office,  No.  207,  I  have  transferred  the  fore- 
going facts,  wrote  in  January  1891 :  "It  was  a  sight  to 
see  the  whole  Arab  population  on  the  river  banks  hard 


12  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  i 

at  work  taking  advantage  of  the  copious  rain  which 
had  just  fallen  ;  every  available  animal  fit  for  draught 
was  yoked  to  the  plough — horses,  mules,  bullocks,  and 
donkeys,  and  even  mares,  with  their  foals  following  them 
up  the  furrows." 

This,  which  is  practically  a  Persian  opening  of  the 
trade  of  the  Karun,  is  not  what  was  expected,  however 
much  it  was  to  be  desired.  After  a  journey  of  nine 
months  through  Persia,  I  am  strongly  of  opinion  that  if 
the  Empire  is  to  have  a  solid  and  permanent  resurrection, 
it  must  be  through  the  enterprise  of  Persians,  aided  it 
may  be  by  foreign  skill  and  capital,  though  the  less  of 
the  latter  that  is  employed  the  more  hopefully  I  should 
regard  the  Persian  future.  The  Nasiri  Company  and  the 
Messrs.  Lynch  may  possibly  unite,  and  the  New  Road 
Company  may  join  with  them  in  making  a  regular  trans- 
port service  by  river  and  road  to  Tihran,  by  which 
England  may  pour  her  manufactured  goods  even  into 
Northern  Persia,  as  this  route  would  compete  success- 
fully both  with  the  Baghdad  and  Trebizond  routes. 

Already,  owing  to  the  improved  circumstances  of  the 
people,  the  import  of  English  and  Indian  cotton  goods 
and  of  sugar  has  increased;  the  latter,  which  is  French, 
from  its  low  price,  only  2-^d.  a  pound  in  the  Gulf,  pushing 
its  way  as  far  north  as  Sultanabad.  Unfortunately  the 
shadow  of  Eussia  hangs  over  the  future  of  Persia.] 

At  present  two  English  and  four  Turkish  boats  run 
on  the  Tigris.  They  are  necessarily  of  light  draught,  as 
the  river  is  shallow  at  certain  seasons  and  is  full  of 
shifting  sand-banks.  The  Mejidieh  is  a  comfortable  boat, 
with  a  superabundance  of  excellent  food.  Her  saloon, 
state-rooms,  and  engines  are  on  the  main  deck,  which  is 
open  fore  and  aft,  and  has  above  it  a  fine  hurricane  deck, 
on  the  fore  part  of  which  the  deck  passengers,  a  motley 
crowd,  encamp.  She  is  fully  loaded  with  British  goods. 


LETTER  i  THE  "  GARDEN  OF  EDEN  "  1 3 

The  first  object  of  passing  interest  was  Koruah, 
reputed  among  the  Arabs  to  be  the  site  of  the  Garden  of 
Eden,  a  tongue  of  land  at  the  junction  of  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates.  The  "  Garden  of  Eden  "  contains  a  village, 
and  bright  fires  burned  in  front  of  the  mat -and -mud 
houses.  Women  in  red  and  white,  and  turbaned  men  in 
brown,  flitted  across  the  firelight ;  there  was  a  mass  of 
vegetation,  chiefly  palms  with  a  number  of  native  vessels 
moored  to  their  stems,  and  a  leaning  minaret.  A  frosty 
moonlight  glorified  the  broad,  turbid  waters,  Kornah  and 
the  Euphrates  were  left  in  shadow,  and  we  turned  up  the 
glittering  waterway  of  the  Tigris.  The  night  was  too 
keenly  frosty  for  any  dreams  of  Paradise,  even  in  this 
classic  Chaldsea,  and  under  a  sky  blazing  down  to  the 
level  horizon  with  the  countless  stars  which  were  not  to 
outnumber  the  children  of  "  Faithful  Abraham." 

Four  hours  after  leaving  Kornah  we  passed  the 
reputed  tomb  of  Ezra  the  prophet.  At  a  distance  and 
in  the  moonlight  it  looked  handsome.  There  is  a  but- 
tressed river  wall,  and  above  it  some  long  flat-roofed 
buildings,  the  centre  one  surmounted  by  a  tiled  dome. 
The  Tigris  is  so  fierce  and  rapid,  and  swallows  its  alluvial 
banks  so  greedily,  that  it  is  probable  that  some  of  the 
buildings  described  by  the  Hebrew  traveller  Benjamin  of 
Tudela  as  existing  in  the  twelfth  century  were  long  since 
carried  away.  The  tomb  is  held  in  great  veneration  not 
only  by  Jews  and  Moslems  but  also  by  Oriental  Chris- 
tians. It  is  a  great  place  of  Jewish  pilgrimage,  and  is  so 
venerated  by  the  Arabs  that  it  needs  no  guard.1 

1  Sir  A.  H.  Layard  describes  the  interior  of  the  domed  building  as 
consisting  of  two  chambers,  the  outer  one  empty,  and  the  inner  one 
containing  the  Prophet's  tomb,  built  of  bricks  covered  with  white  stucco, 
and  enclosed  in  a  wooden  case  or  ark,  over  which  is  thrown  a  large  blue 
cloth,  fringed  with  yellow  tassels,  the  name  of  the  donor  being  inscribed 
in  Hebrew  characters  upon  it.  — Layard 's  Early  Adventures,  vol.  i. 
p.  214. 


14  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  i 

Hadji  brought  my  breakfast,  or  as  he  called  it,  "  the 
grub,"  the  next  morning,  and  I  contemplated  the  Son  of 
Abraham  with  some  astonishment.  He  had  discarded 
his  turban  and  abba,  and  looked  a  regular  uncivilised 
desert  Ishmaelite,  with  knives  and  rosaries  in  his  belt, 
and  his  head  muffled  in  a  kiffiyeh,  a  yellow  silk  shawl 
striped  with  red,  with  one  point  and  tassels  half  a  yard 
long  hanging  down  his  back,  and  fastened  round  his  head 
by  three  coils  of  camel's-hair  rope.  A  loose  coat  with  a 
gay  girdle,  "  breeks  "  of  some  kind,  loose  boots  turned  up 
at  the  toes  and  reaching  to  the  knees,  and  a  striped  under- 
garment showing  here  and  there,  completed  his  costume. 

The  view  from  the  hurricane  deck,  though  there  are 
no  striking  varieties,  is  too  novel  to  be  monotonous.  The 
level  plains  of  Chaldaea,  only  a  few  feet  higher  than  the 
Tigris,  stretch  away  to  the  distant  horizon,  unbroken 
until  to-day,  when  low  hills,  white  with  the  first  snows 
of  winter,  are  softly  painted  on  a  pure  blue  sky,  very  far 
away.  The  plains  are  buff  and  brown,  with  an  occasional 
splash,  near  villages  as  buff  and  brown  as  the  soil  out  of 
which  they  rise,  of  the  dark-green  of  date  gardens,  or  the 
vivid  green  of  winter  wheat.  With  the  exception  of  these 
gardens,  which  are  rarely  seen,  the  vast  expanse  is  un- 
broken by  a  tree.  A  few  miserable  shrubs  there  are, 
the  mimosa  agrestis  or  St.  John's  bread,  and  a  scrubby 
tamarisk,  while  liquorice,  wormwood,  capers,  and  some 
alkaline  plants  which  camels  love,  are  recognisable  even 
in  their  withered  condition. 

There  are  a  few  villages  of  low  mud  hovels  enclosed 
by  square  mud  walls,  and  hamlets  of  mat  huts,  the  mats 
being  made  of  woven  sedges  and  flags,  strengthened  by 
palm  fronds,  but  oftener  by  the  tall,  tough  stems  of 
growing  reeds  bent  into  arches,  and  woven  together  by 
the  long  leaves  of  aquatic  plants,  chiefly  rushes.  The 
hovels,  so  ingeniously  constructed,  are  shared  indis- 


LETTER  i  THE  MESOPOTAMIAN  FLATS  15 

criminately  by  the  Arabs  and  their  animals,  and  crowds 
of  women  and  children  emerged  from  them  as  we  passed. 
Each  village  has  its  arrangement  for  raising  water  from 
the  river. 

Boats  under  sail,  usually  a  fleet  at  a  time,  hurry  down- 
stream, owing  more  to  the  strong  current  than  to  the 
breeze,  or  are  hauled  up  laboriously  against  both  by  their 
Arab  crews. 

The  more  distant  plain  is  sparsely  sprinkled  with 
clusters  of  brown  tents,  long  and  low,  and  is  dotted  over 
with  flocks  of  large  brown  sheep,  shepherded  by  Arabs  in 
kiffiyelis,  each  shepherd  armed  with  a  long  gun  slung  over 
his  shoulder.  Herds  of  cattle  and  strings  of  camels  move 
slowly  over  the  brown  plain,  and  companies  of  men  on 
horseback,  with  long  guns  and  lances,  gallop  up  to  the 
river  bank,  throw  their  fiery  horses  on  their  haunches, 
and  after  a  moment  of  gratified  curiosity  wheel  round 
and  gallop  back  to  the  desert  from  which  they  came. 
Occasionally  a  stretch  of  arable  land  is  being  ploughed 
up  by  small  buffaloes  with  most  primitive  ploughs,  but 
the  plains  are  pastoral  chiefly,  tents  and  flocks  are  their 
chief  features — features  which  have  changed  little  since 
the  great  Sheikh  Abraham,  whose  descendants  now  people 
them,  left  his  "  kindred "  in  the  not  distant  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees,  and  started  on  the  long  march  to  Canaan. 

Eeedy  marshes,  alive  with  water- fowl,  arable  lands, 
bare  buff  plains,  brown  tents,  brown  flocks,  mat  huts, 
mud  and  brick  villages,  groups  of  women  and  children, 
flights  of  armed  horsemen,  alternate  rapidly,  —  the 
unchanging  features  are  the  posts  and  wires  of  the 
telegraph. 

The  Tigris  in  parts  is  wonderfully  tortuous,  and  at 
one  great  bend,  "  The  Devil's  Elbow,"  a  man  on  foot  can 
walk  the  distance  in  less  than  an  hour  which  takes  the 
steamer  four  hours  to  accomplish.  The  current  is  very 


16  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  i 

strong,  and  the  slow  progress  is  rendered  slower  at  this 
season  of  lo'w  water  by  the  frequent  occurrence  of  sand- 
banks, of  which  one  is  usually  made  aware  by  a  jolt,  a 
grinding  sound,  a  cessation  of  motion,  some  turns  astern, 
and  then  full  speed  ahead,  which  often  overcomes  the 
obstacle.  Some  hours'  delay  and  the  floats  of  one  paddle- 
wheel  injured  were  the  most  serious  disasters  brought 
about ;  and  in  spite  of  the  shallows  at  this  season,  the 
Tigris  is  a  noble  river,  and  the  voyage  is  truly  fascinating. 
Not  that  there  are  many  remarkable  objects,  but  the 
desert  atmosphere  and  the  desert  freedom  are  in  them- 
selves delightful,  the  dust  and  debris  are  the  dust  and 
ctibris  of  mighty  empires,  and  there  are  countless 
associations  with  the  earliest  past  of  which  we  have  any 
records. 

Aimarah,  a  rising  Turkish  town  of  about  7000  people, 
built  at  a  point  where  the  river  turns  at  a  sharp  angle 
to  the  left,  is  interesting  as  showing  what  commerce  can 
create  even  here,  in  less  than  twenty  years.  A  caravan 
route  into  Persia  was  opened  and  Aimarah  does  a  some- 
what busy  trade.  Flat -faced  brick  buildings,  with  pro- 
jecting lattice  windows,  run  a  good  way  along  the  left 
bank  of  the  river,  which  is  so  steep  and  irregular  that 
the  crowd  which  thronged  it  when  the  steamer  made 
fast  was  shown  to  great  advantage — Osmanlis,  Greeks, 
Persians,  Sabeans,  Jews  of  great  height  and  superb 
physique,  known  by  much-tasselled  turbans,  and  a  pre- 
dominating Arab  element. 

We  walked  down  the  long,  broad,  covered  bazar, 
with  a  broken  water  channel  in  the  middle,  where  there 
were  crowds,  solely  of  men,  meat,  game,  bread,  fruit, 
grain,  lentils,  horse  -  shoes,  pack  saddles,  Manchester 
cottons,  money-changers,  silversmiths,  and  scribes,  and 
heard  the  roar  of  business,  and  the  thin  shouts  of  boys 
unaccustomed  to  the  sight  of  European  women.  The 


LETTER  i  "CHRISTIANS  OF  ST.  JOHN"  17 

crowds  pressed  and  followed,  picking  at  my  clothes,  and 
singing  snatches  of  songs  which  were  not  complimentary. 
It  had  not  occurred  to  me  that  I  was  violating  rigid 
custom  in  appearing  in  a  hat  and  gauze  veil  rather  than 
in  a  chadar  and  face  cloth,  but  the  mistake  was  made 
unpleasantly  apparent.  In  Moslem  towns  women  go 
about  in  companies  and  never  walk  with  men. 

We  visited  an  enclosed  square,  where  there  are 
barracks  for  zaptiehs  (gendarmes),  the  Kadi's  court,  and 
the  prison,  which  consists  of  an  open  grating  like  that 
of  a  menagerie,  a  covered  space  behind,  and  dark  cells 
or  dens  opening  upon  it,  all  better  than  the  hovels  of 
the  peasantry.  There  were  a  number  of  prisoners  well 
clothed,  and  apparently  well  fed,  to  whom  we  were  an 
obvious  diversion,  but  the  guards  gesticulated,  shouted, 
and  brandished  their  side-arms,  making  us  at  last 
understand  that  our  presence  in  front  of  the  grating  was 
forbidden.  After  seeing  a  large  barrack  yard,  and 
walking,  still  pursued  by  a  crowd,  round  the  forlorn  out- 
skirts of  Aimarah,  which  include  a  Sabean  village,  we 
visited  the  gold  and  silversmiths'  shops  where  the  Sabeans 
were  working  at  their  craft,  of  which  in  this  region  they 
have  nearly  a  monopoly,  not  only  settling  temporarily 
in  the  towns,  but  visiting  the  Arab  encampments  on  the 
plains,  where  they  are  always  welcome  as  the  makers  and 
repairers  of  the  ornaments  with  which  the  women  are 
loaded.  These  craftsmen  and  others  of  the  race  whom 
I  have  seen  differ  greatly  from  the  Arabs  in  appearance, 
being  white  rather  than  brown,  very  white,  i.e.  very  pale, 
with  jet-black  hair  ;  large,  gentle,  intelligent  eyes  ;  small, 
straight  noses,  and  small,  well -formed  mouths.  The 
handsome  faces  of  these  "  Christians  of  St.  John "  are 
very  pleasing  in  their  expression,  and  there  was  a 
dainty  cleanliness  about  their  persons  and  white  cloth- 
ing significant  of  those  frequent  ablutions  of  both  which 
VOL.  I  c 


18  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  i 

are  so  remarkable  a  part  of  their  religion.  The  children 
at  Aimarah,  and  generally  in  the  riparian  villages,  wear 
very  handsome  chased,  convex  silver  links,  each  as  large 
as  the  top  of  a  breakfast  cup,  to  fasten  their  girdles. 

The  reedy  marshes,  the  haunts  of  pelicans  and  pigs, 
are  left  behind  at  Aimarah,  and  tamarisk  scrub  and 
liquorice  appear  on  the  banks.  At  Kut-al- Aimarah,  a 
small  military  post  and  an  Arab  town  of  sun-dried 
bricks  on  the  verge  of  a  high  bank  above  the  Tigris, 
we  landed  again,  and  ragamuffin  boys  pressed  very 
much  upon  us,  and  ragamuffin  zaptiehs,1  grotesquely 
dressed  in  clothes  of  different  European  nationalities, 
pelted  them  with  stones.  To  take  up  stones  and  throw 
them  at  unwelcome  visitors  is  a  frequent  way  of  getting 
rid  of  them  in  the  less  civilised  parts  of  the  East. 

A  zaptieh  station,  barracks,  with  a  large  and  badly- 
kept  parade  ground,  a  covered  bazar  well  supplied,  houses 
with  blank  walls,  large  cafts  with  broad  matted  benches, 
asafoetida,  crowds  of  men  of  superb  physique,  picturesque 
Arabs  on  high-bred  horses,  and  a  total  invisibility  of 
women,  were  the  salient  features  of  Kut-al-Aimarah. 
Big -masted,  high -stemmed  boats,  the  broad,  turbid 
Tigris  with  a  great  expanse  of  yellowish  sand  on  its 
farther  shore,  reeds  "  shaken  with  the  wind,"  and  a  windy 
sky,  heavily  overcast,  made  up  the  view  from  the  bank. 
There  were  seen  for  the  first  time  by  the  new-comers 
the  most  venerable  boats  in  the  world,  for  they  were  old 
even  when  Herodotus  mentions  them — kufas  or  gophers, 
very  deep  round  baskets  covered  with  bitumen,  with 
incurved  tops,  and  worked  by  one  man  with  a  paddle. 
These  remarkable  tubs  are  used  for  the  conveyance  of 
passengers,  goods,  and  even  animals. 

1  A  year  later  in  Kurdistan,  the  zaptiehs,  all  time-expired  soldiers  and  well 
set  up  soldierly  men,  wore  neat,  serviceable,  dark  blue  braided  uniforms, 
and  high  riding-boots. 


LETTER  I 


AN  ANCIENT  BOAT 


19 


Before  leaving  we  visited  the  Arab  Khan  or  Sheikh 
in  his  house.  He  received  us  in  an  upper  room  of 
difficult  access,  carpeted  with  very  handsome  rugs,  and 
with  a  divan  similarly  covered,  but  the  walls  of  brown 
mud  were  not  even  plastered.  His  manner  was  dignified 
and  courteous,  and  his  expression  remarkably  shrewd. 
A  number  of  men  sitting  on  the  floor  represented  by 


A   GOPHER. 


their  haughty  aspect  and  magnificent  physique  the 
royalty  of  the  Ishmaelite  descent  from  Abraham.  This 
Khan  said  that  his  tribe  could  put  3000  fighting  men 
into  the  field,  but  it  was  obvious  that  its  independence 
is  broken,  and  that  these  tribal  warriors  are  reckoned 
as  Osmanli  irregulars  or  Bashi  Bazouks.  The  Khan 
remarked  that  "  the  English  do  not  make  good  friends, 
for,"  he  added,  "they  back  out  when  difficulties  arise." 
On  board  the  steamer  the  condition  of  the  Arabs  is 


20  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  i 

much  discussed,  and  the  old  residents  describe  it  as 
steadily  growing  worse  under  the  oppression  and  corrup- 
tion of  the  Osmanli  officials,  who  appear  to  be  doing 
their  best  to  efface  these  fine  riparian  tribes  by  merciless 
exactions  coming  upon  the  top  of  taxation  so  heavy 
as  to  render  agriculture  unprofitable,  the  impositions 
actually  driving  thousands  of  them  to  seek  a  living  in 
the  cities  and  to  the  Persian  shores  of  the  Gulf,  where 
they  exchange  a  life  of  hereditary  freedom  for  a  pre- 
carious and  often  scanty  subsistence  among  unpropitious 
surroundings.  Still,  the  Arab  of  the  desert  is  not  con- 
quered by  the  Turks. 


LETTER  i          MESOPOTAMIAN  AGRICULTURE  21 


LETTER    I  (Continued} 

BAGHDAD,  Jan.  5. 

THE  last  day  on  the  Tigris  passed  as  pleasantly  as  its 
predecessors.  There  was  rain  in  the  early  morning, 
then  frost  which  froze  the  rain  'on  deck,  and  at  7  A.M. 
the  mercury  in  my  cabin  stood  at  28°. 

In  the  afternoon  the  country  became  more  populous, 
that  is,  there  were  kraals  of  mat  huts  at  frequent 
intervals,  and  groups  of  tents  to  which  an  external  wall 
of  mats  gave  a  certain  aspect  of  permanence.  Increased 
cultivation  accompanied  the  increased  population.  In 
some  places  the  ground  was  being  scratched  with  a 
primitive  plough  of  unshod  wood,  or  a  branch  of  a  tree 
slightly  trimmed,  leaving  a  scar  about  two  inches  deep. 
These  scars,  which  pass  for  furrows,  are  about  ten  inches 
apart,  and  camel  thorn,  tamarisk,  and  other  shrubs 
inimical  to  crops  stand  between  them.  The  seed  is  now 
being  sown.  After  it  comes  up  it  grows  apace,  and 
in  spite  of  shallow  scratches,  camel  thorn,  and  tamarisk 
the  tilth  is  so  luxuriant  that  the  husbandmen  actually 
turn  cattle  and  sheep  into  it  for  two  or  three  weeks,  and 
then  leave  it  to  throw  up  the  ear  !  They  say  that  there 
are  from  eighteen  to  thirty-five  stalks  from  each  seed  in 
consequence  of  this  process  !  The  harvest  is  reaped  in 
April,  after  which  water  covers  the  land. 

Another  style  of  cultivation  is  adopted  for  land,  of 
which  we  saw  a  good  deal,  very  low  lying,  and  annually 


22  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  i 

overflowed,  usually  surrounding  a  nucleus  of  permanent 
marsh.  This  land,  after  the  water  dries  up,  is  destitute 
of  vegetation,  and  presents  a  smooth,  moist  surface  full 
of  cracks,  which  scales  off  later.  No  scratching  is 
needed  for  this  soil.  The  seed  is  sown  broadcast  over 
it,  and  such  of  it  as  is  not  devoured  by  birds  falls  into 
the  cracks,  and  produces  an  abundant  crop.  All  this  rich 
alluvial  soil  is  stoneless,  but  is  strewn  from  Seleucia 
to  Babylon  with  fragments  of  glass,  bricks,  and  pottery. 
Artificial  mounds  also  abound,  and  remains  of  canals,  all 
denoting  that  these  fertile  plains  in  ancient  days  sup- 
ported a  large  stationary  population.  Of  all  that  once 
was,  this  swirling  river  alone  remains,  singing  in  every 
eddy  and  ripple — 

"  For  men  may  come  and  men  may  go, 
But  I  go  on  for  ever." 

As  we  were  writing  in  the  evening  we  were  nearly 
thrown  off  our  chairs  by  running  aground  with  a  thump, 
which  injured  one  paddle  wheel  and  obliged  us  to  lie  up 
part  of  the  night  for  repairs  near  the  ruins  of  the  ancient 
palace  of  Ctesiphon.  Seleucia,  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
river,  is  little  more  now  than  a  historic  name,  but  the 
palace  of  Tak-i-Kasr,  with  its  superb  archway  100 
feet  in  height,  has  been  even  in  recent  times  mag- 
nificent enough  in  its  ruin  to  recall  the  glories  of  the 
Parthian  kings,  and  the  days  when,  according  to  Gibbon, 
"  Khosroes  Nushirwan  gave  audience  to  the  ambassadors 
of  the  world "  within  its  stately  walls.  Its  gaunt  and 
shattered  remains  have  even  still  a  mournful  grandeur 
about  them,  but  they  have  suffered  so  severely  from  the 
barbarous  removal  of  the  stones  and  the  fall  of  much  of 
the  front  as  to  be  altogether  disappointing. 

Soon  after  leaving  Ctesiphon  there  is  increased  cul- 
tivation, and  within  a  few  miles  of  Baghdad  the  banks 


LETTER  I  THE  CITY  OF  THE  CALIPHS  23 

of  the  river,  which  is  its  great  high  road,  "become 
populous.  "  Palatial  residences,"  in  which  the  women's 
apartments  are  indicated  by  the  blankness  of  their  walls, 
are  mixed  up  with  mud  hovels  and  goat's-hair  tents; 
there  are  large  farmhouses  with  enclosures  foe  cattle  and 
horses;  date  gardens  and  orange  groves  fringe  the 
stream,  and  arrangements  for  drawing  water  are  let  into 
its  banks  at  frequent  intervals.  Strings  of  asses  laden 
with  country  produce,  companies  of  horsemen  and  in- 
numerable foot  passengers,  all  moved  citywards. 

The  frosty  sun  rose  out  of  an  orange  sky  as  a  disc 
of  blood  and  flame,  but  the  morning  became  misty  and 
overcast,  so  that  the  City  of  the  Arabian  Nights  did  not 
burst  upon  the  view  in  any  halo  of  splendour.  A  few 
tiled  minarets,  the  blue  domes  of  certain  mosques, 
handsome  houses, — some  of  them  European  Consulates, 
half  hidden  by  orange  groves  laden  with  their  golden 
fruitage, — a  picturesque  bridge  of  boats,  a  dense  growth 
of  palms  on  the  right  bank,  beyond  which  gleam  the 
golden  domes  of  Kazimain  and  the  top  of  Zobeide's  tomb, 
the  superannuated  British  gun-boat  Comet,  two  steamers, 
a  crowd  of  native  craft,  including  Jcufas  or  gophers,  a 
prominent  Custom-house,  and  decayed  alleys  opening  on 
the  water,  make  up  the  Baghdad  of  the  present  as  seen 
from  the  Mejidieti's  deck. 

As  soon  as  we  anchored  swarms  of  kufas  clustered 
round  us,  and  swarms  of  officials  and  hamals  (porters) 
invaded  the  deck.  Some  of  the  passengers  had  landed 
two  hours  before,  others  had  proceeded  to  their  destina- 
tions at  once,  and  as  my  friends  had  not  come  off  I  was 
alone  for  some  time  in  the  middle  of  a  tremendous 
Babel,  in  which  every  man  shouted  at  the  top  of  his 
voice  and  all  together,  Hadji  assuming  a  deportment  of 
childish  helplessness.  Certain  officials  under  cover  of 
bribes  lavished  on  my  behalf  by  a  man  who  spoke 


24  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  i 

English  professed  to  let  my  baggage  pass  unopened, 
then  a  higher  official  with  a  sword  knocked  Hadji 
down,  then  a  man  said  that  everything  would  be  all 
right  if  I  would  bestow  another  gold  lira,  about  £1, 
on  the  officers,  and  I  was  truly  glad  when  kind  Cap- 
tain Dougherty  with  Dr.  Sutton  came  alongside  in  the 
Comet's  boat,  and  brought  me  ashore.  The  baggage  was 
put  into  another  of  her  boats,  but  as  soon  as  we  were  out 
of  sight  it  was  removed,  and  was  taken  to  the  Custom- 
house, where  they  insisted  that  some  small  tent  poles  in 
a  cover  were  guns,  and  smashed  a  box  of  dates  in  the 
idea  that  it  was  tobacco ! 

The  Church  Mission  House,  in  which  I  am  receiv- 
ing hospitality,  is  a  "  native "  house,  though  built  and 
decorated  by  Persians,  as  also  are  several  of  the  Con- 
sulates. It  is  in  a  narrow  roadway  with  blank  walls,  a 
part  of  the  European  quarter ;  a  door  of  much  strength 
admits  into  a  small  courtyard,  round  which  are  some  of 
the  servants'  quarters  and  reception  rooms  for  Moslem 
visitors,  and  within  this  again  is  a  spacious  and  hand- 
some courtyard,  round  which  are  kitchens,  domestic 
offices,  and  the  serddbs,  which  play  an  important  part  in 
Eastern  life. 

These  serdabs  are  semi-subterranean  rooms,  usually 
with  arched  fronts,  filled  in  above-ground  with  lattice- 
work. They  are  lofty,  and  their  vaulted  roofs  are 
supported  in  rich  men's  houses  on  pillars.  The  well  of 
the  household  is  often  found  within.  The  general  effect 
of  this  one  is  that  of  a  crypt,  and  it  was  most  appropriate 
for  the  Divine  Service  in  English  which  greeted  my 
arrival.  The  cold  of  it  was,  however,  frightful.  It  was 
only  when  the  Holy  Communion  was  over  that  I  found 
that  I  was  wearing  Hadji's  revolver  and  cartridge  belt 
under  my  cloak,  which  he  had  begged  me  to  put  on  to 
save  them  from  confiscation  !  In  these  vaulted  chambers 


LETTER  i  THE  CHURCH  MISSION  HOUSE  25 

both  Europeans  and  natives  spend  the  hot  season,  sleeping 
at  night  on  the  roofs. 

Above  this  lower  floor  are  the  winter  apartments, 
which  open  upon  a  fine  stone  balcony  running  round 
three  sides  of  the  court.  On  the  river  side  of  the  house 
there  is  an  orange  garden,  which  just  now  might  be  the 
garden  of  the  Hesperides,  and  a  terrace,  below  which  is 
the  noble,  swirling  Tigris,  and  beyond,  a  dark  belt  of 
palms.  These  rooms  on  the  river  front  have  large 
projecting  windows,  six  in  a  row,  with  screens  which 
slide  up  and  down,  and  those  which  look  to  the  court- 
yard are  secluded  by  very  beautiful  fretwork.  The 
drawing-room,  used  as  a  dormitory,  is  a  superb  room, 
in  which  exquisitely  beautiful  ceiling  and  wall  decorations 
in  shades  of  fawn  enriched  with  gold,  and  fretwork 
windows,  suggest  Oriental  feeling  at  every  turn.  The 
plaster -work  of  this  room  is  said  to  be  distinctively 
Persian  and  is  very  charming.  The  house,  though  large, 
is  inconveniently  crowded,  with  the  medical  and  clerical 
mission  families,  two  lady  missionaries,  and  two  guests. 
Each  apartment  has  two  rows  of  vaulted  recesses  in  its  walls, 
and  very  fine  cornices  above.  It  is  impossible  to  warm 
the  rooms,  but  the  winter  is  very  short  and  brilliant, 
and  after  ulsters,  greatcoats,  and  fur  cloaks  have  been 
worn  for  breakfast,  the  sun  mitigates  the  temperature. 

I.  L.  B. 


26  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  n 


LETTEE  II 

BAGHDAD,  Jan.  9. 

BAGHDAD  is  too  well  known  from  the  careful  descrip- 
tions given  of  it  by  Eastern  travellers  to  justify  me  in 
lingering  upon  it  in  detail,  and  I  will  only  record  a  few 
impressions,  which  are  decidedly  couleur  de  rose,  for  the 
weather  is  splendid,  making  locomotion  a  pleasure,  and 
the  rough,  irregular  roadways  which  at  other  seasons  are 
deep  in  foul  and  choking  dust,  or  in  mud  and  pestilential 
slime,  are  now  firm  and  not  remarkably  dirty. 

A  little  earlier  than  this  the  richer  inhabitants,  who 
have  warstled  through  the  summer  in  their  dim  and 
latticed  serdabs,  emerge  and  pitch  their  tents  in  the 
plains  of  Ctesiphon,  where  the  men  find  a  stimulating 
amusement  in  hunting  the  boar,  but  it  is  now  the  "  season  " 
in  the  city,  the  liveliest  and  busiest  time  of  the  year. 
The  cholera,  which  is  believed  to  have  claimed  6000 
victims,  has  departed,  and  the  wailing  of  the  women, 
which  scarcely  ceased  day  or  night  for  a  month,  is  silent. 
The  Jewish  troubles,  which  apparently  rose  out  of  the 
indignation  of  the  Moslems  at  the  burial  within  the  gates, 
contrary  to  a  strict  edict  on  the  subject,  of  a  Eabbi  who 
died  of  cholera,  have  subsided,  and  the  motley  popula- 
tions and  their  yet  more  motley  creeds  are  for  the  time 
at  peace. 

In  the  daytime  there  is  a  roar  or  hum  of  business, 
mingled  with  braying  of  asses,  squeals  of  belligerent 


LETTER  ii  THE  TIGRIS  27 

horses,  yells  of  camel-drivers  and  muleteers,  beating  of 
drums,  shouts  of  beggars,  hoarse-toned  ejaculations  of 
fakirs,  ear-splitting  snatches  of  discordant  music,  and 
in  short  a  chorus  of  sounds  unfamiliar  to  Western  ears, 
but  the  nights  are  so  still  that  the  swirl  of  the  Tigris 
as  it  hurries  past  is  distinctly  heard.  Only  the  long 
melancholy  call  to  prayer,  or  the  wail  of  women  over  the 
dead,  or  the  barking  of  dogs,  breaks  the  silence  which  at 
sunset  falls  as  a  pall  over  Baghdad 

Under  the  blue  sunny  sky  the  river  view  is  very  fine. 
The  river  itself  is  imposing  from  its  breadth  and  volume, 
and  in  the  gorgeous  sunsets,  with  a  sky  of  crimson 
flame,  and  the  fronds  of  the  dark  date  palms  mirrored  in 
its  reddened  waters,  it  looks  really  beautiful.  The  city 
is  stately  enough  as  far  as  the  general  coup-d'ceil  of  the 
river  front  goes,  and  its  river  facade  agreeably  surprises 
me.  The  Tigris,  besides  being  what  may  be  called  the 
main  street,  divides  Baghdad  into  two  unequal  parts,  and 
though  the  city  on  the  left  bank  has  almost  a  monopoly 
of  picturesque  and  somewhat  stately  irregularity  in  the 
houses  of  fair  height,  whose  lattices  and  oriel  windows 
overhang  the  stream  from  an  environment  of  orange 
gardens,  the  dark  date  groves  dignify  the  meaner 
buildings  of  the  right  bank.  The  rush  of  a  great  river  is 
in  itself  attractive,  and  from  the  roof  of  this  house  the 
view  is  fascinating,  with  the  ceaseless  movements  of 
hundreds  of  boats  and  kufas,  the  constant  traffic  of  men, 
horses,  asses,  and  caravans  across  the  great  bridge  of 
boats,  and  the  long  lines  of  buildings  which  with  more  or 
less  picturesqueness  line  the  great  waterway. 

Without  the  wearisomeness  of  sight-seeing  there  is 
much  to  be  seen  in  Baghdad,  and  though  much  that 
would  be  novel  to  a  new-comer  from  the  West  is  familiar 
to  me  after  two  years  of  Eastern  travel,  there  is  a  great 
deal  that  is  really  interesting.  The  kufas  accumulating 


28  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  n 

at  their  landing,  freighted  with  the  products  of  the  Upper 
Tigris,  the  transpontine  city,  in  which  country  produce 
takes  the  foremost  place ;  the  tramway  to  Kazimain  con- 
structed during  the  brief  valiship  of  Midhat  Pasha,  on 
which  the  last  journey  of  the  day  is  always  performed  at 
a  gallop,  coiLte  que  co^te, ;  the  caravans  of  asses,  each  one 
with  a  huge  fish,  the  "  Fish  of  Tobias,"  hanging  across  its 
back ;  the  strings  of  the  same  humble  animal,  carrying 
skins  of  water  from  the  river  throughout  the  city ;  the 
tombs,  the  mosques,  the  churches,  the  great  caravans  of 
mules  and  camels,  almost  monopolising  the  narrow  road- 
ways, Arabs  and  Osmanlis  on  showy  horses,  Persians, 
Turks,  Arabs,  Jews,  Armenians,  Chaldseans,  in  all  the 
variety  of  their  picturesque  national  costumes,  to  which 
the  niggardly  clothing  of  a  chance  European  acts  as  an 
ungraceful  foil ;  Persian  dead,  usually  swaddled,  making 
their  last  journey  on  mule  or  horseback  to  the  holy 
ground  at  Kerbela,  and  the  occasional  march  of  horse  or 
foot  through  the  thronged  bazars,  are  among  the  hourly 
sights  of  a  city  on  which  European  influence  is  scarcely 
if  at  all  perceptible. 

Turkish  statistics  must  be  received  with  caution,  and 
the  population  of  Baghdad  may  not  reach  120,000  souls, 
but  it  has  obviously  recovered  wonderfully  from  the 
effects  of  war,  plague,  inundation,  and  famine,  and  looks 
busy  and  fairly  prosperous,  so  much  so  indeed  that  the 
account  given  of  its  misery  and  decay  in  Mr.  Baillie 
Eraser's  charming  Travels  in  Kurdistan  reads  like  a  story 
of  the  last  century.  If  nothing  remains  of  the  glories  of 
the  city  of  the  Caliphs,  it  is  certainly  for  Turkey  a  busy, 
growing,  and  passably  wealthy  nineteenth-century  capital. 
It  is  said  to  have  a  hundred  mosques,  twenty-six  minarets, 
and  fifteen  domes,  but  I  have  not  counted  them  ! 

Its  bazars,  which  many  people  regard  as  the  finest  in 
the  East  outside  of  Stamboul,  are  of  enormous  extent  and 


LETTER  ii  *  BAGHDAD  BAZAES  29 

very  great  variety.  Many  are  of  brick,  with  well-built 
domed  roofs,  and  sides  arcaded  both  above  and  below, 
and  are  wide  and  airy.  Some  are  of  wood,  all  are 
covered,  and  admit  light  scantily,  only  from  the  roof. 
Those  which  supply  the  poorer  classes  are  apt  to  be 
ruinous  and  squalid — "ramshackle"  to  say  the  truth, 
with  an  air  of  decay  about  them,  and  their  roofs  are 
merely  rough  timber,  roughly  thatched  with  reeds  or 
date  tree  fronds.  Of  splendour  there  is  none  anywhere, 
and  of  cleanliness  there  are  few  traces.  The  old,  narrow, 
and  filthy  bazars  in  which  the  gold  and  silversmiths  ply 
their  trade  are  of  all  the  most  interesting.  The  trades 
have  their  separate  localities,  and  the  buyer  who  is  in 
search  of  cotton  goods,  silk  stuffs,  carpets,  cotton  yarn, 
gold  and  silver  thread,  ready-made  clothing,  weapons, 
saddlery,  rope,  fruit,  meat,  grain,  fish,  jewellery,  muslins, 
copper  pots,  etc.,  has  a  whole  alley  of  contiguous  shops 
devoted  to  the  sale  of  the  same  article  to  choose  from. 

At  any  hour  of  daylight  at  this  season  progress 
through  the  bazars  is  slow.  They  are  crowded,  and 
almost  entirely  with  men.  It  is  only  the  poorer  women 
who  market  for  themselves,  and  in  twos  and  threes,  at 
certain  hours  of  the  day.  In  a  whole  afternoon,  among 
thousands  of  men,  I  saw  only  five  women,  tall,  shapeless, 
badly  -  made  -  up  bundles,  carried  mysteriously  along, 
rather  by  high,  loose,  canary-yellow  leather  boots  than 
by  feet.  The  face  is  covered  with  a  thick  black  gauze 
mask,  or  cloth,  and  the  head  and  remainder  of  the  form 
with  a  dark  blue  or  black  sheet,  which  is  clutched  by 
the  hand  below  the  nose.  The  walk  is  one  of  tottering 
decrepitude.  All  the  business  transacted  in  the  bazars  is 
a  matter  of  bargaining,  and  as  Arabs  shout  at  the  top  of 
their  voices,  and  buyers  and  sellers  are  equally  keen,  the 
roar  is  tremendous. 

Great  cafes,  as  in  Cairo,  occur   frequently.     In   the 


30  JOUBSEYS  IX  PERSIA  LETTER  n 

larger  ones  from  a  hundred  to  two  hundred  men  are  seen 
lounging  at  one  time  on  the  broad  matted  seats,  shouting, 
chaffering,  drinking  coffee  or  skarbal  and  smoking  chibouks 
or  infanta.  Negro  attendants  supply  their  wants.  These 
caffs  are  the  dubs  of  Baghdad.  Whatever  of  public 
opinion  exists  in  a  country  where  the  recognised  use  of 
words  is  to  "conceal  thought,"  is  formed  in  them.  They 
are  centres  of  business  likewise,  and  much  of  the  noise  is 
due  to  bargaining,  and  they  are  also  manufactories  of 
rumours,  scandals,  and  fimatM-aaam  The  great  caravan- 
serais, such  as  the  magnificent  Khan  Othman,  are  also 
resorts  of  merchants  for  the  display  and  sale  of  their 
good* 

Europeans  never  make  purchases  in  the  bazars. 
They  either  have  the  goods  from  which  they  wish  to 
make  a  choke  brought  to  their  houses,  or  their  servants 
bargain  for  them,  getting  a  r»mTni«gtinn  both  from  buyer 
and  seller. 

The  splendour  of  the  East,  if  it  exists  at  all,  is  not 
to  be  seen  in  the  bazars.  The  jewelled  daggers,  the  cloth 
of  silver  and  gold,  the  J**ii[fllm¥En|*  jfiTir  tissues,  the  brocaded 
ailka,  tin*  «A  f««lMiiai^«i  jfrj^  the  damascened  sword  blades, 
the  finer  cMjoeta,  the  inlaid  armour,  the  cunning  work  in 
brass  and  inlaid  bronze,  and  all  the  articles  of  rertit  and 
Irie-d-lme  of  real  or  spurious  value,  are  carefully  con- 
cealed by  their  owners,  and  are  carried  for  display,  with 
much  secrecy  and  mystery,  to  the  houses  of  their  ordinary 
customers,  and  to  such  European  strangers  as  are  reported 
to  be  willing  to  be  victimised. 

Trade  in  Baghdad  is  regarded  by  Europeans  and 
large  capitalists  as  growing  annually  more  depressed 
and  unsatisfactory,  but  this  is  not  the  view  of  the 
small  traders,  chiefly  Jews  and  Christians,  who  start 
with  a  capital  of  £5  or  upwards,  and  by  buying  some 
cheap  lot  in  Bombay, — gay  handkerchiefs,  perfumery, 


LETTER  n  THE  "FISH  OF  TOBIAS"  31 

shoes,  socks,  buttons,  tin  boxes  with  mirror  lids,  scissors, 
pocket-knives,  toys,  and  the  like, — bid  fair  to  make 
small  fortunes.  The  amount  of  perfumery  and  rubbish 
piled  in  these  ramshackle  shops  is  wonderful  The 
trader  who  picks  np  a  desert  Arab  for  a  customer  and 
sells  him  a  knife,  or  a  mirror  box,  or  a  packet  of 
candles  is  likely  to  attract  to  himself  a  large  trade, 
for  when  once  the  unmastered  pastoral  hordes  of  Al 
Jazira,  Trak,  and  Stramlya  see  such  objects,  the  desire 
of  possession  is  aroused,  and  the  refuse  of  Manchester  and 
Birmingham  will  find  its  way  into  every  tent  in  the 
desert. 

The  best  bazars  are  the  least  crowded,  though  once 
in  them  it  is  difficult  to  move,  and  the  strings  of  asses 
laden  with  skins  of  water  are  a  great  nuisance.  The 
foot-passenger  is  also  liable  at  any  moment  to  be  ridden 
down  by  horsemen,  or  squeezed  into  a  jelly  by  the 
passage  of  caravans. 

It  is  in  the  meat,  vegetable,  cotton,  ofl,  grain,  fruit, 
and  fish  bazars  that  the  throngs  are  busiest  and  noisiest, 
and  though  cucumbers,  the  great  joy  of  the  Turkish  palate, 
are  over,  vegetables  "of  sorts"  are  abundant,  and  the 
slant,  broken  sunbeams  fall  on  pyramids  of  fruit,  and 
glorify  the  warm  colouring  of  melons,  apples,  and  pome- 
granates. 

A  melon  of  10  Ibs.  weight  can  be  got  for  a  penny, 
a  sheep  for  five  or  six  shillings,  and  fish  for  something 
like  a  farthing  per  pound,  that  is  the  "  Fish  of  Tobias," 
the  monster  of  the  Tigris  waters,  which  is  largely  eaten 
by  the  poor.  Poultry  and  game  are  also  very  cheap,  and 
the  absolute  necessaries  of  life,  such  as  broken  wheat  for 
porridge,  oil,  flour,  and  cheese,  cost  little. 

Cook-shops  abound,  but  their  viands  are  not  tempting, 
and  the  bazars  are  pervaded  by  a  pungent  odour  of  hot 
sesamum  oil  and  rancid  fat,  frying  being  a  usual  mode 


32  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  n 

of  cooking  in  these  restaurants.  An  impassive  Turk, 
silently  smoking,  sits  cross-legged  on  a  platform  at  each 
Turkish  shop  door.  He  shows  his  goods  as  if  he  had  no 
interest  in  them,  and  whether  he  sells  or  not  seems  a 
matter  of  indifference,  so  that  he  can  return  to  his  pipe. 
It  is  not  to  him  that  the  overpowering  din  is  owing,  but 
to  the  agitated  eagerness  of  the  other  nationalities. 

The  charm  of  the  bazars  lies  in  the  variety  of  race 
and  costume  and  in  the  splendid  physique  of  the  greater 
number  of  the  men.  The  European  looks  "  nowhere." 
The  natural  look  of  a  Moslem  is  one  of  hauteur,  but  no 
words  can  describe  the  scorn  and  lofty  Pharisaism  which 
sit  on  the  faces  of  the  Seyyids,  the  descendants  of  Mo- 
hammed, whose  hands  and  even  garments  are  kissed  rever- 
ently as  they  pass  through  the  crowd ;  or  the  wrathful 
melancholy  mixed  with  pride  which  gives  a  fierceness  to 
the  dignified  bearing  of  the  magnificent  beings  who  glide 
through  the  streets,  their  white  turbans  or  shawl  head- 
gear, their  gracefully  flowing  robes,  their  richly  em- 
broidered under- vests,  their  Kashmir  girdles,  their  inlaid 
pistols,  their  silver-hilted  dirks,  and  the  predominance 
of  red  throughout  their  clothing  aiding  the  general  effect. 
Yet  most  of  these  grand  creatures,  with  their  lofty  looks 
and  regal  stride,  would  be  accessible  to  a  bribe,  and 
would  not  despise  even  a  perquisite.  These  are  the 
mollahs,  the  scribes,  the  traders,  and  the  merchants  of  the 
city. 

The  Bedouin  and  the  city  Arabs  dress  differently,  and 
are  among  the  marked  features  of  the  streets.  The  under- 
dress  is  a  very  coarse  shirt  of  unbleached  homespun 
cotton,  rarely  clean,  over  which  the  Sheikhs  and  richer 
men  wear  a  robe  of  striped  silk  or  cotton  with  a  Kashmir 
girdle  of  a  shawl  pattern  in  red  on  a  white  ground.  The 
poor  wear  shirts  of  coarse  hair  or  cotton,  without  a  robe. 
The  invariable  feature  of  Arab  dress  is  the  abba — a  long 


LETTER  ii  ARAB  COSTUME  33 

cloak,  sleeveless,  but  with  holes  through  which  to  pass 
the  arms,  and  capable  of  many  adaptations.  It  conceals 
all  superabundance  and  deficiency  of  attire,  and  while  it 
has  the  dignity  of  the  toga  by  day  it  has  the  utility  of  a 
blanket  by  night.  The  better- class  abba  is  very  hard, 
being  made  of  closely- woven  worsted,  in  broad  brown  and 
white  or  black  and  white  perpendicular  stripes.  The 
poorest  abba  is  of  coarse  brown  worsted,  and  even  of  goafs- 
hair.  I  saw  many  men  who  were  destitute  of  any  cloth- 
ing but  tattered  abbas  tied  round  their  waists  by  frayed 
hair  ropes.  The  abba  is  the  distinctive  national  costume 
of  the  Arabs.  The  head-gear  is  not  the  turban  but  a 
shawl  of  very  thick  silk  woven  in  irregular  stripes  of 
yellow  and  red,  with  long  cords  and  tassels  depending, 
made  of  the  twisted  woof.  This  handsome  square  is 
doubled  triangularly,  the  double  end  hangs  down  the 
back,  and  the  others  over  the  shoulders.  A  loosely- 
twisted  rope  of  camel's-hair  is  wound  several  times  round 
the  crown  of  the  head.  When  the  weather  is  cold,  being 
like  all  Orientals  very  sensitive  in  their  heads,  they  bring 
one  side  of  the  shawl  over  the  whole  of  the  face  but  the 
eyes,  and  tuck  it  in,  in  great  cold  only  exposing  one  eye, 
and  in  great  heat  also.  Most  Moslems  shave  the  head, 
but  the  Arabs  let  their  hair  grow  very  long,  and  wear  it 
in  a  number  of  long  plaits,  and  these  elf-locks  mixed  up 
with  the  long  coloured  tassels  of  the  kiffiyeh,  and  the  dark 
glittering  eyes  looking  out  from  under  the  yellow  silk, 
give  them  an  appearance  of  extreme  wildness,  aided  by 
the  long  guns  which  they  carry  and  their  long  desert 
stride. 

The  Arab  moves  as  if  he  were  the  ruler  of.  the  country, 
though  the  grip  of  the  Osmanli  may  be  closing  on  him. 
His  eyes  are  deeply  set  under  shaggy  eyebrows,  his  nose 
is  high  and  sharp,  he  is  long  and  thin,  his  profile  suggests 
a  bird  of  prey,  and  his  demeanour  a  fierce  independence. 
VOL.  i  D 


34  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  n 

The  Arab  women  go  about  the  streets  unveiled,  and 
with  the  abba  covering  their  very  poor  clothing,  but  it  is 
not  clutched  closely  enough  to  conceal  the  extraordinary 
tattooing  which  the  Bedouin  women  everywhere  regard 
as  ornamental.  There  are  artists  in  Baghdad  who  make 
their  living  by  this  mode  of  decorating  the  person,  and 
vie  with  each  other  in  the  elaboration  of  their  patterns. 
I  saw  several  women  tattooed  with  two  wreaths  of  blue 
flowers  on  their  bosoms  linked  by  a  blue  chain,  palm 
fronds  on  the  throat,  stars  on  the  brow  and  chin,  and 
bands  round  the  wrists  and  ankles.  These  disfigurements, 
and  large  gold  or  silver  filigree  buttons  placed  outside  one 
nostril  by  means  of  a  wire  passed  through  it,  worn  by 
married  women,  are  much  admired.  When  these  women 
sell  country  produce  in  the  markets,  they  cover  their 
heads  with  the  ordinary  chadar. 

The  streets  are  narrow,  and  the  walls,  which  are 
built  of  fire -burned  bricks,  are  high.  Windows  to 
the  streets  are  common,  and  the  oriel  windows,  with 
their  warm  brown  lattices  projecting  over  the  roadways 
at  irregular  heights,  are  strikingly  picturesque.  Not  less 
so  are  latticework  galleries,  which  are  often  thrown 
across  the  street  to  connect  the  two  houses  of  wealthy 
residents,  and  the  sitting-rooms  with  oriel  windows, 
which  likewise  bridge  the  roadways.  Solid  doorways 
with  iron -clasped  and  iron -studded  doors  give  an  im- 
pression of  security,  and  suggest  comfort  and  to  some 
extent  home  life,  and  sprays  of  orange  trees,  hanging 
over  walls,  and  fronds  of  date  palms  give  an  aspect  of 
pleasantness  to  the  courtyards. 

The  best  parts  of  the  city,  where  the  great  bazars, 
large  dwelling- houses,  and  most  of  the  mosques  are,  is 
surrounded  by  a  labyrinth  of  alleys,  fringing  off  into 
streets  growing  meaner  till  they  cease  altogether  among 
open  spaces,  given  up  to  holes,  heaps,  rubbish,  the 


LETTER  ii        THE  KERBELA  "  DEAD  MARCH "  35 

slaughter  of  animals,  and  in  some  favoured  spots  to  the 
production  of  vegetables.  Then  come  the  walls,  which 
are  of  kiln-burned  bricks,  and  have  towers  intended  for 
guns  at  intervals.  The  wastes  within  the  walls  have 
every  element  of  decay  and  meanness,  the  wastes  without, 
where  the  desert  sands  sweep  up  to  the  very  foot  of  the 
fortifications,  have  many  elements  of  grandeur. 

Baghdad  is  altogether  built  of  chrome-yellow  kiln-dried 
bricks.  There  are  about  twenty-five  kilns,  chiefly  in  the 
hands  of  Jews  and  Christians  in  the  wastes  outside  the 
city,  but  the  demand  exceeds  the  supply,  not  for  building 
only,  but  for  the  perpetual  patchings  which  houses,  paths, 
and  walls  are  always  requiring,  owing  to  the  absorption 
of  moisture  in  the  winter. 

Bricks  at  the  kilns  sell  for  36s.  per  thousand  twelve 
inches  square,  and  18s.  per  thousand  seven  inches  square. 
They  are  carried  from  the  kilns  on  donkeys,  small  beasts, 
each  taking  ten  large  or  twenty-five  small  bricks. 

Unskilled  labour  is  abundant.  Men  can  be  engaged 
at  9d.  a  day,  and  boys  for  5d. 

This  afternoon,  in  the  glory  of  a  sunset  which 
reddened  the  yellow  waste  up  to  the  distant  horizon, 
a  caravan  of  mules,  mostly  in  single  file,  approached  the 
city.  Each  carried  two  or  four  white  bales  slung  on 
his  sides,  or  two  or  more  long  boxes,  consisting  of  planks 
roped  rather  than  nailed  together.  This  is  the  fashion 
in  which  thousands  of  Persian  Moslems  (Shiahs  or 
"  Sectaries ")  have  been  conveyed  for  ages  for  final 
burial  at  Kerbela,  the  holiest  place  of  the  Shiahs,  an 
easy  journey  from  Baghdad,  where  rest  the  ashes  of  Ali, 
regarded  as  scarcely  second  to  Mohammed,  and  of  Houssein 
and  Hassan  his  sons,  whose  "martyrdom"  is  annually 
commemorated  by  a  Passion  Play  which  is  acted  in 
every  town  and  village  in  Persia.  To  make  a  pilgrimage 
to  Kerbela,  or  to  rest  finally  in  its  holy  dust,  or  both, 


36  JOURNEYS  IN  PEESIA  LETTER  n 

constitutes  the  ambition  of  every  Shiah.  The  Sunnis,  or 
"  Orthodox,"  who  hate  the  Shiahs,  are  so  far  kept  in  check 
that  these  doleful  caravans  are  not  exposed  to  any  worse 
molestation  than  the  shouts  and  ridicule  of  street  Arabs. 

The  mode  of  carrying  the  dead  is  not  reverent.  The 
katirgis,  who  contract  for  the  removal,  hurry  the  bodies 
along  as  goods,  and  pile  them  in  the  yards  of  the 
caravanserais  at  night,  and  the  mournful  journey  is 
performed,  oftener  than  not,  without  the  presence  of 
relations,  each  body  being  ticketed  with  the  name  once 
borne  by  its  owner.  Some  have  been  exhumed  and  are 
merely  skeletons,  others  are  in  various  stages  of  decom- 
position, and  some  are  of  the  newly  dead.1 

Outside  the  walls  predatory  Arabs  render  the  roads 
unsafe  for  solitary  travellers,  and  at  times  for  feeble  cara- 
vans ;  but  things  in  this  respect  are  better  than  they  were. 

Visits  to  the  Armenian  and  Chaldaean  Churches,  to 
the  Mosque  of  Abdel  Kader,  with  its  courts  thronged  by 
Afghan  pilgrims,  and  to  the  Jewish  quarter,  have  been 
very  interesting.  There  are  said  to  be  30,000  Jews 
here,  and  while  a  large  proportion  of  them  are  in 
poverty,  on  the  whole  they  are  an  influential  nationality, 
and  some  of  them  are  very  rich. 

Through  the  liberality  of  Sir  Albert  Sassoon  a  Jewish 
High  School  has  been  opened,  where  an  admirable  education 
is  given.  I  was  extremely  pleased  with  it,  and  with  the 
director,  who  speaks  French  fluently,  and  with  the  pro- 
ficiency in  French  of  the  elder  students.  He  describes 
their  earnestness  and  energetic  application  as  being  most 
remarkable. 

The    French    Carmelite    monks    have    a    large,  solid 

1  I  heard  that  the  Shah  had  prohibited  this  "Dead  March  "  to  Kerbela, 
on  account  of  the  many  risks  to  the  public  health  involved  in  it,  but 
nearly  a  year  later,  in  Persian  Kurdistan,  I  met,  besides  thousands  of 
living  pilgrims,  a  large  caravan  of  the  dead. 


LETTER  ii  ARMENIAN  HOUSES  37 

"  Mission  Church  "  or  Cathedral  with  a  fine  peal  of  bells, 
and  a  very  prosperous  school  attached,  in  which  are  boys 
belonging  to  all  the  many  creeds  professed  in  Baghdad. 
The  sisters  of  St.  Joseph  have  a  school  for  girls,  which 
Turkish  children  are  not  slow  to  avail  themselves  of. 
The  sisters  find  a  remarkable  unhandiness  among  the 
women.  Few,  if  any,  among  them  have  any  idea  of 
cutting  out  or  repairing,  and  rich  and  poor  are  equally 
incapable  of  employing  their  fingers  usefully. 

The  people  here  are  so  used  to  the  sight  of  Europeans 
that  it  is  quite  easy  for  foreign  ladies  to  walk  in  this 
quarter  only  attended  by  a  servant,  and  I  have  accom- 
panied Mrs.  Sutton  on  visits  to  several  Armenian  houses. 
The  Armenians  are  in  many  cases  wealthy,  as  their 
admirably-designed  and  well-built  houses  testify.  The 
Christian  population  is  estimated  at  5000,  and  its  wealth 
and  energy  give  it  greater  importance  than  its  numbers 
warrant.  One  of  the  houses  which  we  visited  was  truly 
beautiful  and  in  very  good  taste,  the  solidity  of  the  stone 
and  brickwork,  the  finish  of  the  wood,  and  the  beauty  of 
the  designs  and  their  execution  in  hammered  iron  being 
quite  remarkable.  The  lofty  roofs  and  cornices  are 
elaborately  worked  in  plaster,  and  this  is  completely 
concealed  by  hundreds  or  thousands  of  mirrors  set  so  as 
to  resemble  facets,  so  that  roof  and  cornices  flash  like 
diamonds.  This  is  a  Persian  style  of  decoration,  and  is 
extremely  effective  in  large  Jiandsome  rooms.  Superb 
carpets  and  divans  and  tea  tables  inlaid  with  mother-of- 
pearl  furnish  the  reception  and  smoking  rooms,  and  the 
bedrooms  and  nurseries  over  which  we  were  taken  were 
simply  arranged  with  French  bedsteads  and  curtains  of 
Nottingham  mosquito  net.  As  in  other  Eastern  houses, 
there  were  no  traces  of  occupation,  no  morning  room  or 
den  sacred  to  litter ;  neither  was  there  anything  to  look 
at — the  opposite  extreme  from  our  overloaded  drawing- 


38  JOURNEYS  IN  PEESIA  LETTER  n 

rooms — or  any  library.  Cigarettes  and  black  coffee  in 
minute  porcelain  cups,  in  gold  filigree  receptacles,  were 
presented  on  each  occasion,  and  the  kind  and  courteous 
intention  was  very  pleasing. 

The  visits  which  I  paid  with  Dr.  Sutton  were  very 
different.  He  has  worked  as  a  medical  missionary  here 
for  some  years,  and  his  unaffected  benevolence  and  quiet 
attention  to  all  suffering  persons,  without  distinction  of 
race  or  creed,  and  his  recent  extraordinary  labours  by 
night  and  day  among  the  cholera-smitten  people,  have 
won  for  him  general  esteem  and  confidence,  and  he  is 
even  allowed  to  enter  Moslem  houses  and  prescribe  for 
the  women  in  some  cases. 

The  dispensary,  in  which  there  is  not  half  enough 
accommodation,  is  very  largely  attended  by  people  of  all 
creeds,  and  even  Moslem  women,  though  exclusively  of 
the  poorer  classes,  avail  themselves  of  it.  Yesterday, 
when  I  was  there,  the  comfortable  seats  of  the  cheerful 
matted  waiting-room  were  all  occupied  by  Armenian 
and  Chaldsean  women,  unveiled  and  speaking  quite 
freely  to  Dr.  Sutton ;  while  a  few  Moslem  women, 
masked  rather  than  veiled,  and  enveloped  in  black 
sheets,  cowered  on  the  floor  and  scarcely  let  their  voices 
be  heard  even  in  a  tremulous  whisper. 

I  am  always  sorry  to  see  any  encroachment  made  by 
Christian  teachers  on  national  customs  where  they  are 
not  contrary  to  morality,  and  willingly  leave  to  Eastern 
women  the  pardah  and  the  veil,  but  still  there  is  a 
wholesomeness  about  the  unveiled,  rosy,  comely,  frank 
faces  of  these  Christian  women.  But — and  it  is  a  decided 
but — though  the  women  were  comely,  and  though  some 
of  the  Armenian  girls  are  beautiful,  every  one  has  one  or 
more  flattish  depressions  on  her  face — scars  in  fact — the 
size  of  a  large  date  stone.  Nearly  the  whole  population 
is  thus  disfigured.  So  universal  is  it  among  the  fair- 


LETTER  ii  "  DATE  BOILS "  39 

skinned  Armenian  girls,  that  so  far  from  being  regarded  as 
a  blemish,  it  is  viewed  as  a  token  of  good  health,  and  it  is 
said  that  a  young  man  would  hesitate  to  ask  for  the 
hand  of  a  girl  in  marriage  if  she  had  not  a  "  date  mark  " 
on  her  face. 

These  "  date  boils,"  or  "  Baghdad  boils,"  as  they  are 
sometimes  called,  are  not  slow  in  attacking  European 
strangers,  and  few,  if  any,  escape  during  their  residence 
here.  As  no  cause  can  reasonably  be  assigned  for  them, 
so  no  cure  has  been  found.  Various  remedies,  including 
cauterisation,  have  been  tried,  but  without  success,  and 
it  is  now  thought  wisest  to  do  nothing  more  than  keep 
them  dry  and  clean,  and  let  them  run  their  natural  course, 
which  lasts  about  a  year.  Happily  they  are  not  so  pain- 
ful as  ordinary  boils.  The  malady  appears  at  first  as  a 
white  point,  not  larger  than  a  pin's  head,  and  remains 
thus  for  about  three  months.  Then  the  flesh  swells, 
becomes  red  and  hard  and  suppurates,  and  underneath 
a  rough  crust  which  is  formed  is  corroded  and  eaten 
away  as  by  vitriol.  On  some  strangers  the  fatal  point 
appears  within  a  few  days  of  their  arrival. 

In  two  years  in  the  East  I  have  not  seen  any 
European  welcomed  so  cordially  as  Dr.  Sutton  into 
Moslem  homes.  The  Hakim,  exhibiting  in  "  quiet  con- 
tinuance in  well-doing  "  the  legible  and  easily-recognised 
higher  fruits  of  Christianity,  while  refraining  from  harsh 
and  irreverent  onslaughts  on  the  creeds  of  those  whose 
sufferings  he  mitigates,  is  everywhere  blessed.1 

To  my  thinking,  no  one  follows  in  the  Master's  foot- 
prints so  closely  as  the  medical  missionary,  and  on 
no  agency  for  alleviating  human  suffering  can  one  look 

1  Six  months  later  a  Bakhtiari  chief,  a  bigoted  Moslem,  said  to  me  at 
the  conclusion  of  an  earnest  plea  for  European  medical  advice,  "Yes, 
Jesus  was  a  great  prophet ;  send  us  a  Hakim  in  His  likeness"  and  doubtless 
the  nearer  that  likeness  is  the  greater  is  the  success. 


40  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  n 

with  more  unqualified  satisfaction.  The  medical  mis- 
sion is  the  outcome  of  the  living  teachings  of  our  faith. 
I  have  now  visited  such  missions  in  many  parts  of 
the  world,  and  never  saw  one  which  was  not  healing, 
helping,  blessing ;  softening  prejudice,  diminishing  suf- 
fering, making  an  end  of  many  of  the  cruelties  which 
proceed  from  ignorance,  restoring  sight  to  the  blind, 
limbs  to  the  crippled,  health  to  the  sick,  telling,  in  every 
work  of  love  and  of  consecrated  skill,  of  the  infinite  com- 
passion of  Him  who  came  "not  to  destroy  men's  lives, 
but  to  save  them." 

In  one  house  Dr.  Sutton  was  welcome  because  he  had 
saved  a  woman's  life,  in  another  because  a  blind  youth 
had  received  his  sight,  and  so  on.  Among  our  visits 
was  one  to  a  poor  Moslem  family  in  a  very  poor  quarter. 
No  matter  how  poor  the  people  are,  their  rooms  stand 
back  from  the  street,  and  open  on  yards  more  or  less 
mean.  It  is  a  misnomer  to  call  this  dwelling  a  house,  or 
to  write  that  it  opens,  for  it  is  merely  an  arched  recess 
which  can  never  be  shut ! 

In  a  hole  in  the  middle  of  an  uneven  earthen  floor 
there  was  a  fire  of  tamarisk  root  and  animal  fuel,  giving 
off  a  stinging  smoke.  On  this  the  broken  wheat  porridge 
for  supper  was  being  cooked  in  a  copper  pot,  supported 
on  three  rusty  cannon-balls.  An  earthenware  basin,  a 
wooden  spoon,  a  long  knife,  a  goat -skin  of  water,  a 
mallet,  a  long  hen-coop,  which  had  served  as  the  bed  for 
the  wife  when  she  was  ill,  some  ugly  hens,  a  clay  jar  full 
of  grain,  two  heaps  of  brick  rubbish,  and  some  wadded 
quilts,  which  had  taken  on  the  prevailing  gray-brown 
colour,  were  the  plenishings  of  the  arch. 

Poverty  brings  one  blessing  in  Turkey — the  poor 
man  is  of  necessity  a  monogamist.  Wretched  though  the 
place  was,  it  had  the  air  of  home,  and  the  smoky  hole 
in  the  floor  was  a  fireside.  The  wife  was  unveiled  and 


LETTER  ii  A  TURKISH  HOME  41 

joined  in  the  conversation,  the  husband  was  helping  her 
to  cook  the  supper,  and  the  children  were  sitting  round 
or  scrambling  over  their  parents'  knees.  All  looked  as 
happy  as  people  in  their  class  anywhere.  It  is  good  to 
have  ocular  demonstration  that  such  homes  exist  in 
Turkey.  God  be  thanked  for  them !  The  man,  a  fine 
frank-looking  Turk,  welcomed  Dr.  Suttou  jovially.  He  had 
saved  the  wife's  life  and  was  received  as  their  best  friend. 
Who  indeed  but  the  medical  missionary  would  care  for 
such  as  them  and  give  them  of  his  skill  "  without  money 
and  without  price  "  ?  The  hearty  laugh  of  this  Turk  was 
good  to  hear,  his  wife  smiled  cordially,  and  the  boys 
laughed  like  their  father.  The  eldest,  a  nice,  bright 
fellow  of  nine,  taught  in  the  mosque  school,  was  proud  to 
show  how  well  he  could  read  Arabic,  and  read  part  of  a 
chapter  from  St.  John's  Gospel,  his  parents  looking  on 
with  wonder  and  admiration. 

Among  the  Christian  families  we  called  on  were  those 
of  the  dispenser  and  catechist — people  with  very  small 
salaries  but  comfortable  homes.  These  families  were 
living  in  a  house  furnished  like  those  of  the  rich  Armen- 
ians, but  on  a  very  simple  scale,  the  floor  and  dais 
covered  with  Persian  carpets,  the  divan  with  Turkish 
woollen  stuff,  and  there  were  in  addition  a  chair  or  two, 
and  silk  cushions  on  the  floor.  In  one  room  there  were 
an  intelligent  elderly  woman,  a  beautiful  girl  of  seven- 
teen, married  a  few  days  ago,  and  wearing  her  bridal 
ornaments,  with  her  husband ;  another  man  and  his  wife, 
and  two  bright,  ruddy-cheeked  boys  who  spoke  six 
languages.  All  had  "  date  marks  "  on  their  faces.  After 
a  year  among  Moslems  and  Hindus,  it  was  startling  to 
find  men  and  women  sitting  together,  the  women  un- 
veiled, and  taking  their  share  in  the  conversation  merrily 
and  happily.  Even  the  young  bride  took  the  initiative 
in  talking  to  Dr.  Sutton. 


42  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  n 

Of  course  the  Christian  women  cover  their  faces  in 
the  streets,  but  the  covering  is  of  different  material  and 
arrangement,  and  is  really  magnificent,  being  of  very  rich, 
stiff,  corded  silk — self-coloured  usually — black,  heliotrope, 
or  dark  blue,  with  a  contrasting  colour  woven  in  deep 
Vandykes  upon  a  white  ground  as  a  border.  The  silk  is 
superb,  really  capable  of  standing  on  end  with  richness. 
Such  a  sheet  costs  about  £5.  The  ambition  of  every 
woman  is  to  possess  one,  and  to  gratify  it  she  even  denies 
herself  in  the  necessaries  of  life. 

The  upper  classes  of  both  Moslem  and  Christian  women 
are  rarely  seen  on  foot  in  the  streets  except  on  certain 
days,  as  when  they  visit  the  churches  and  the  mosques 
and  burial-grounds.  Nevertheless  they  go  about  a  great 
deal  to  visit  each  other,  riding  on  white  asses,  which  are 
also  used  by  mollahs  and  rich  elderly  merchants.  All 
asses  have  their  nostrils  slit  to  improve  their  wind.  A 
good  white  ass  of  long  pedigree,  over  thirteen  hands  high, 
costs  as  much  as  £50.  As  they  are  groomed  till  they 
look  as  white  as  snow,  and  are  caparisoned  with  red 
leather  trappings  embroidered  with  gold  thread  and  silks, 
and  as  a  rider  on  a  white  ass  is  usually  preceded  by 
runners  who  shout  and  brandish  sticks  to  clear  the 
way,  this  animal  always  suggests  position,  or  at  least 
wealth. 

Women  of  the  upper  classes  mounted  on  these  asses 
usually  go  to  pay  afternoon  visits  in  companies,  with 
mounted  eunuchs  and  attendants,  and  men  to  clear  the 
way.  They  ride  astride  with  short  stirrups,  but  the  rider 
is  represented  only  by  a  shapeless  blue  bundle,  out  of  which 
protrude  two  yellow  boots.  Blacks  of  the  purest  negro 
type  frequently  attend  on  women,  and  indeed  consequence 
is  shown  by  the  possession  of  a  number  of  them. 

Of  the  Georgian  and  Circassian  belles  of  the  harams, 
a  single  lustrous  eye  with  its  brilliancy  enhanced  by  the 


LETTER  ii  THE  TRADE  OF  BAGHDAD  43 

use  of  kohl  is  all  that  one  sees.  At  the  bottom  of  the 
scale  are  the  Arab  women  and  the  unsecluded  women  of 
the  lower  orders  generally,  who  are  of  necessity  drudges, 
and  are  old  hags  before  they  are  twenty,  except  in  the 
few  cases  in  which  they  do  not  become  mothers,  when 
the  good  looks  which  many  of  them  possess  in  extreme 
youth  last  a  little  longer.  If  one's  memories  of  Baghdad 
women  were  only  of  those  to  be  seen  in  the  streets,  they 
would  be  of  leathery,  wrinkled  faces,  prematurely  old, 
figures  which  have  lost  all  shape,  and  henna -stained 
hands  crinkled  and  deformed  by  toil. 

Baghdad  is  busy  and  noisy  with  traffic.  Great  quan- 
tities of  British  goods  pass  through  it  to  Persia,  avoiding 
by  doing  so  the  horrible  rock  ladders  between  Bushire 
and  Isfahan.  The  water  transit  from  England  and 
India,  only  involving  the  inconvenience  of  transhipment 
at  Basrah,  makes  Baghdad  practically  into  a  seaport,  with 
something  of  the  bustle  and  vivacity  of  a  seaport,  and 
caravans  numbering  from  20,000  to  26,000  laden  mules 
are  employed  in  the  carriage  of  goods  to  and  from  the 
Persian  cities.  A  duty  of  one  per  cent  is  levied  on 
goods  in  transit  to  Persia.3 

The  trade  of  Baghdad  is  not  to  be  despised.  The 
principal  articles  which  were  imported  from  Europe 
amounted  in  1889  to  a  value  of  £621,140,  and  from 
India  to  £239,940,  while  the  exports  from  Baghdad  to 

1  The  entire  trade  of  Baghdad  is  estimated  at  about  £2,500,000,  of 
which  the  Persian  transit  trade  is  nearly  a  quarter.  The  Persian  imports 
and  exports  through  Baghdad  are  classified  thus  :  Manufactured  goods, 
including  Manchester  piece  goods,  and  continental  woollens  and  cottons, 
7000  to  8000  loads.  Indian  manufactures,  1000  loads.  Loaf  sugar, 
chiefly  from  Marseilles,  6000  loads.  Drugs,  pepper,  coffee,  tea,  other 
sugars,  indigo,  cochineal,  copper,  and  spelter,  7000  loads.  The  Persian 
exports  for  despatch  by  sea  include  wool,  opium,  cotton,  carpets,  gum, 
and  dried  fruits,  and  for  local  consumption,  among  others,  tobacco,  roghan 
(clarified  butter),  and  dried  and  fresh  fruits,  with  a  probable  bulk  of  from 
12,000  to  15,000  loads. 


44  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  IT 

Europe  and  America  were  valued  in  the  same  year  at 
£469,200,  and  to  India  by  British  India  Company 
steamers  only  at  £35,150.  In  looking  through  the 
Consular  list  of  exports,  it  is  interesting  to  notice  that 
13,400  cwts.  of  gum  of  the  value  of  £70,000  were 
exported  in  1889.  Neither  the  Indian  postage  stamps 
nor  ours  should  suffer  from  the  partial  failure  of  the 
Soudan  supply. 

Liquorice  roots  to  the  value  of  £7800  were  exported 
in  1888,  almost,  solely  to  America,  to  be  used  in  the 
preparation  of  quid  tobacco  and  "  fancy  drinks  "  ! 

The  gall  nuts  which  grow  in  profusion  on  the  dwarf 
oaks  which  cover  many  hillsides,  were  exported  last  year 
to  the  value  of  £35,000,  to  be  used  chiefly  in  the  pro- 
duction of  ink,  so  closely  is  commerce  binding  countries 
one  to  the  other. 

Two  English  firms  have  concessions  for  pressing  wool 
and  making  it  into  bales  suitable  for  shipment.  There 
are  five  principal  English  firms  here,  three  French,  and 
six  Turkish,  not  including  the  small  fry.  There  are  five 
foreign  Consulates. 

The  carriage  of  goods  is  one  of  the  most  important  of 
Persian  and  Turkish  industries,  and  the  breeding  of  mules 
and  the  manufacture  of  caravan  equipments  give  extensive 
employment;  but  one  shudders  to  think  of  the  amount 
of  suffering  involved  in  sore  backs  and  wounds,  and  of 
exhausted  and  over-weighted  animals  lying  down  forlornly 
to  die,  having  their  eyes  picked  out  before  death. 

The  mercury  was  at  37°  at  breakfast-time  this  morn- 
ing. Fuel  is  scarce  and  dear,  some  of  the  rooms  are 
without  fireplaces,  and  these  good  people  study,  write, 
and  work  cheerfully  in  this  temperature  in  open  rooms, 
untouched  by  the  early  sun. 

The  preparations  for  to-morrow's  journey  are  nearly 
complete.  Three  mules  have  been  engaged  for  the 


LETTER  ii  TRAVELLING  EQUIPMENTS  45 

baggage — one  for  Hadji,  and  a  saddle  mule  for  myself; 
stores,  a  revolver,  and  a  mangel  or  brazier  have  been 
bought;  a  permit  to  travel  has  been  obtained,  and  my 
hosts,  with  the  most  thoughtful  kindness,  have  facili- 
tated all  the  arrangements.  I  have  bought  two  mule 
yeMans,  which  are  tall,  narrow  leather  trunks  on  strong 
iron  frames,  with  stout  straps  to  buckle  over  the  top  of 
the  pack  saddle.  On  the  whole  I  find  that  it  is  best 
to  adopt  as  far  as  possible  the  travelling  equipments  of 
the  country  in  which  one  travels.  The  muleteers  and 
servants  understand  them  better,  and  if  any  thing  goes 
wrong,  or  wears  out,  it  can  be  repaired  or  replaced.  I 
have  given  away  en  route  nearly  all  the  things  I  brought 
from  England,  and  have  reduced  my  camp  furniture  to 
a  folding  bed  and  a  chair.  I  shall  start  with  three 
novelties — a  fellow-traveller,1  a  saddle  mule,  and  an  un- 
tried saddle. 

It  is  expected  that  the  journey  will  be  a  very  severe 
one,  owing  to  the  exceptionally  heavy  snowfall  reported 
from  the  Zagros  mountains  and  the  Persian  plateau. 
The  Persian  post  has  arrived  several  days  late.  I.  L.  B. 

1  I  had  given  up  the  idea  of  travelling  in  Persia,  and  was  preparing  to 
leave  India  for  England,  when  an  officer,  with  whom  I  was  then  un- 
acquainted, and  who  was  about  to  proceed  to  Tihran  on  business,  kindly 
offered  me  his  escort.  The  journey  turned  out  one  of  extreme  hardship 
and  difficulty,  and  had  it  not  been  for  his  kindness  and  efficient  help  I  do 
not  think  that  I  should  have  accomplished  it. 


46  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  m 


LETTER  Iir 

YAKOBIYEH,  ASIATIC  TURKEY,  Jan.  11. 

WHETHER  for  "  well  or  ill "  the  journey  to  Tihran  is 
begun.  I  am  ashamed  to  say  that  I  had  grown  so 
nervous  about  its  untried  elements,  and  about  the 
possibilities  of  the  next  two  months,  that  a  very  small 
thing  would  have  made  me  give  it  up  at  the  last 
moment ;  but  now  that  I  am  fairly  embarked  upon  it  in 
splendid  weather,  the  spirit  of  travel  has  returned. 

Much  remained  for  the  last  morning, — debts  to  be  paid 
in  complicated  money,  for  Indian,  Turkish,  and  Persian 
coins  are  all  current  here ;  English  circular  notes  to  be 
turned  into  difficult  coin,  and  the  usual  "  row "  with 
the  muleteers  to  be  endured.  This  disagreeable  farce 
attends  nearly  all  departures  in  the  East,  and  I  never 
feel  the  comfortable  assurance  that  it  means  nothing. 

The  men  weighed  my  baggage,  which  was  considerably 
under  weight,  the  day  before,  but  yesterday  three  or  four 
of  them  came  into  the  courtyard,  shouting  in  Arabic  at 
the  top  of  their  loud  harsh  voices  that  they  would  not 
carry  the  loads.  Hadji  roared  at  them,  loading  his 
revolver  all  the  time,  calling  them  "  sons  of  burnt  fathers," 
and  other  choice  names.  Dr.  Bruce  and  Dr.  Sutton 
reasoned  with  them  from  the  balcony,  when,  in  the  very 

1  I  present  my  diary  letters  much  as  they  were  written,  believing 
that  the  details  of  travel,  however  wearisome  to  the  experienced 
traveller,  will  be  interesting  to  the  "  Untravelled  Many,"  to  whom  these 
volumes  are  dedicated. 


LETTER  in         DEPARTURE  FROM  BAGHDAD  47 

height  of  the  row,  they  suddenly  shouldered  the  loads 
and  went  off  with  them. 

Two  hours  later  the  delightful  hospitalities  of  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Sutton  were  left  behind,  and  the  farewell  to  the 
group  in  the  courtyard  of  the  mission  house  is  a  long 
farewell  to  civilisation.  Eumours  of  difficulties  have 
been  rife,  and  among  the  various  dismal  prophecies  the 
one  oftenest  repeated  is  that  we  shall  be  entangled  in 
the  snows  of  the  Zagros  mountains ;  but  the  journey 
began  propitiously  among  oranges  and  palms,  bright  sun- 
shine and  warm  good  wishes.  My  mule  turns  out  a  fine, 
spirited,  fast -walking  animal,  and  the  untried  saddle 
suits  me.  My  inarching  equipment  consists  of  two  large 
holsters,  with  a  revolver  and  tea-making  apparatus  in 
one,  and  a  bottle  of  milk,  and  dates  in  the  other.  An 
Afghan  sheepskin  coat  is  strapped  to  the  front  of 
the  saddle,  and  a  blanket  and  stout  mackintosh  behind. 
I  wear  a  cork  sun-helmet,  a  gray  mask  instead  of  a  veil, 
an  American  mountain  dress  with  a  warm  jacket  over  it, 
and  tan  boots,  scarcely  the  worse  for  a  year  of  Himalayan 
travel.  Hadji  is  dressed  like  a  wild  Ishmaelite. 

Captain  Dougherty  of  H.M.S.  Comet  and  his  chief 
engineer  piloted  us  through  the  narrow  alleys  and 
thronged  bazars, — a  zaptieli,  or  gendarme,  with  a  rifle 
across  his  saddle-bow,  and  a  sheathed  sabre  in  his  hand, 
shouting  at  the  donkey  boys,  and  clearing  the  crowd  to 
right  and  left.  Through  the  twilight  of  the  bazars, 
where  chance  rays  of  sunshine  fell  on  warm  colouring, 
gay  merchandise,  and  picturesque  crowds ;  along  narrow 
alleys,  overhung  by  brown  lattice  windows;  out  under  the 
glorious  blue  of  heaven  among  ruins  and  graves,  through 
the  northern  gateway,  and  then  there  was  an  abrupt  exchange 
of  the  roar  and  limitations  of  the  City  of  the  Caliphs  for 
the  silence  of  the  desert  and  the  brown  sweep  of  a  limit- 
less horizon.  A  walled  Eastern  city  has  no  suburbs.  It 


48  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  in 

is  a  literal  step  from  a  crowded  town  to  absolute  solitude. 
The  contrast  is  specially  emphasised  at  Baghdad,  where 
the  transition  is  made  from  a  great  commercial  city  with 
a  crowded  waterway,  to  an  uninhabited  plain  in  the 
nudity  of  mid-winter. 

A  last  look  at  gleaming  domes,  coloured  minarets,  and 
massive  mausoleums,  rising  out  of  an  environment  of 
palms  and  orange  groves,  at  the  brick  walls  and  towers 
of  the  city,  at  the  great  gate  to  which  lines  of  caravans 
were  converging  from  every  quarter,  a  farewell  to  the 
kindly  pilots,  and  the  journey  began  in  earnest. 

The  "  Desert "  sweeps  up  to  the  walls  of  Baghdad,  but 
it  is  a  misnomer  to  call  the  vast  level  of  rich,  stoneless, 
alluvial  soil  a  desert.  It  is  a  dead  flat  of  uninhabited 
earth;  orange  colocynth  balls,  a  little  wormwood,  and 
some  alkaline  plants  which  camels  eat,  being  its  chief 
products.  After  the  inundations  reedy  grass  grows  in  the 
hollows.  It  is  a  waste  rather  than  a  desert,  and  was 
once  a  populous  plain,  and  the  rich  soil  only  needs 
irrigation  to  make  it  "  blossom  as  the  rose."  Traces  of  the 
splendid  irrigation  system  under  which  it  was  once  a 
garden  abound  along  the  route. 

The  mid-day  and  afternoon  were  as  glorious  as  an  un- 
clouded sky,  a  warm  sun,  and  a  fresh,  keen  air  could  make 
them.  The  desert  freedom  was  all  around,  and  the 
nameless  charm  of  a  nomadic  life.  The  naked  plain, 
which  stretched  to  the  horizon,  was  broken  only  by  the 
brown  tents  of  Arabs,  mixed  up  with  brown  patches  of 
migrating  flocks,  strings  of  brown  camels,  straggling 
caravans,  and  companies  of  Arab  horsemen  heavily 
armed.  An  expanse  of  dried  mud,  the  mirage  continually 
seen,  a  cloudless  sky,  and  a  brilliant  sun — this  was  all. 
I  felt  better  at  once  in  the  pure,  exhilarating  desert  air, 
and  nervousness  about  the  journey  was  left  behind.  I 
even  indulged  in  a  gallop,  and  except  for  her  impetuosity, 


LETTER  in         THE  FIRST  CAMPING- GROUND  49 

which  carried  me  into  the  middle  of  a  caravan,  and 
turning  round  a  few  times,  the  mule  behaved  so 
irreproachably  that  I  forgot  the  potential  possibilities  of 
evil.  Still,  I  do  not  think  that  there  can  ever  be  that 
perfect  correspondence  of  will  between  a  mule  and  his 
rider  that  there  is  between  a  horse  and  his  rider. 

The  mirage  was  almost  continual  and  grossly 
deceptive.  Fair  blue  lakes  appeared  with  palms  and 
towers  mirrored  on  their  glassy  surfaces,  giving  place  to 
snowy  ranges  with  bright  waters  at  their  feet,  fringed 
by  tall  trees,  changing  into  stately  processions,  all  so 
absolutely  real  that  the  real  often  seemed  the  delusion. 
These  deceptions,  continued  for  several  hours,  were 
humiliating  and  exasperating. 

Towards  evening  the  shams  disappeared,  the  waste 
purpled  as  the  sun  sank,  and  after  riding  fifteen  miles 
we  halted  near  the  mud  village  of  Orta  Khan,  a  place  with 
brackish  water  and  no  supplies  but  a  little  brackish 
sheep's  milk.  The  caravanserai  was  abominable,  and  we 
rode  on  to  a  fine  gravelly  camping-ground,  but  the  head- 
man and  some  of  the  villagers  came  out,  and  would  not 
hear  of  our  pitching  the  tents  where  we  should  be  the 
prey  of  predatory  hordes,  strong  enough,  they  said,  to 
overpower  an  officer,  two  zaptiehs,  and  three  orderlies ! 
Being  unwilling  to  get  them  into  trouble,  we  accepted  a 
horrible  camping-ground,  a  mud-walled  "  garden,"  trenched 
for  dates,  and  lately  irrigated,  as  damp  and  clayey  as  it 
could  be.  My  dhurrie  will  not  be  dry  again  this  winter. 
The  mules  could  not  get  in,  the  baggage  was  unloaded  at 
some  distance,  and  was  all  mixed  up,  and  Hadji  showed 
himself  incapable  ;  my  tent  fell  twice,  remained  precarious, 
and  the  Jcanats  were  never  pegged  down  at  all. 

The  dhurrie  was  trampled  into  the  mud  by  clayey 
feet.  Baggage  had  to  be  disentangled  and  unpacked 
after  dark,  and  the  confusion  apt  to  prevail  on  the 
VOL.  i  E 


50  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  in 

first  night  of  a  inarch  was  something  terrible.  It  opened 
my  eyes  to  the  thorough  inefficiency  of  Hadji,  who  was 
so  dazed  with  opium  this  morning  that  he  stood  about 
in  a  dream,  ejaculating  "  Ya  Allah  \ "  when  it  was  sug- 
gested that  he  should  bestir  himself,  leaving  me  to  do 
all  the  packing,  groaning  as  he  took  up  the  tent  pegs, 
and  putting  on  the  mule's  bridle  with  the  bit  hanging 
under  her  chin ! 

The  night  was  very  damp,  not  quite  frosty,  and  in 
the  dim  morning  the  tent  and  its  contents  were  wet. 
Tea  at  seven,  with  Baghdad  rusks,  with  a  distinctly  "  native 
taste,"  two  hours  spent  in  standing  about  on  the  damp, 
clayey  ground  till  my  feet  were  numb,  while  the  men, 
most  of  whom  were  complaining  of  rheumatism,  stumbled 
through  their  new  work;  and  then  five  hours  of  wastes, 
enlivened  by  caravans  of  camels,  mules,  horses,  or  asses, 
and  sometimes  of  all  mixed,  with  their  wild,  armed 
drivers.  The  leader  of  each  caravan  carries  a  cylinder- 
shaped  bell  under  his  throat,  suspended  from  a  red 
leather  band  stitched  with  cowries,  another  at  his  chest, 
and  very  large  ones,  often  twenty-four  inches  long  by  ten 
in  diameter,  hanging  from  each  pack.  Every  other  animal 
of  the  caravan  has  smaller  bells,  and  the  tones,  which 
are  often  most  musical,  reach  from  the  deep  note  of  a 
church  bell  up  to  the  frivolous  jingle  of  sleigh  bells; 
jingle  often  becomes  jangle  when  several  caravans  are 
together.  The  katirgis  (muleteers)  spend  large  sums  on 
the  bells  and  other  decorations.  Among  the  loads  we 
met  or  overtook  were  paraffin,  oranges,  pomegranates, 
carpets,  cotton  goods,  melons,  grain,  and  chopped  straw. 
The  waste  is  covered  with  tracks,  and  a  guide  is  absolutely 
necessary. 

The  day  has  been  still  and  very  gloomy,  with  flakes  of 
snow  falling  at  times.  The  passing  over  rich  soil,  once 
cultivated  and  populous,  now  abandoned  to  the  antelope 


LETTER  in         ANCIENT  IRRIGATION  WORKS  51 

and  partridge,  is  most  melancholy.  The  remains  of 
canals  and  water-courses,  which  in  former  days  brought 
the  waters  of  the  Tigris  and  the  Diyalah  into  the  fields 
of  the  great  grain-growing  population  of  these  vast  levels 
of  Chaldsea  and  Mesopotamia,  are  everywhere,  and  at 
times  create  difficulties  on  the  road.  By  road  is  simply 
meant  a  track  of  greater  or  less  width,  trodden  on  the 
soil  by  the  passage  of  caravans  for  ages.  On  these  two 
marches  not  a  stone  has  been  seen  which  could  strike  a 
ploughshare. 

Great  ancient  canals,  with  their  banks  in  ruins  and 
their  deep  beds  choked  up  and  useless,  have  been  a 
mournful  feature  of  rather  a  dismal  day's  journey.  We 
crossed  the  bed  of  the  once  magnificent  Nahrwan  canal, 
the  finest  of  the  ancient  irrigation  works  to  the  east  of 
the  Tigris,  still  in  many  places  from  twenty-five  to  forty 
feet  deep  and  from  150  to  200  feet  in  breadth. 

For  many  miles  the  only  permanent  village  is  a 
collection  of  miserable  mud  hovels  round  a  forlorn  cara- 
vanserai, in  which  travellers  may  find  a  wretched  refuge 
from  the  vicissitudes  of  weather.  There  is  a  remarkable 
lack  of  shelter  and  provender,  considering  that  this  is 
not  only  one  of  the  busiest  of  caravan  routes,  but  is 
enormously  frequented  by  Shiah  pilgrims  on  their  way 
from  Persia  to  the  shrines  of  Kerbela. 

After  crossing  the  ISTahrwan  canal  the  road  keeps 
near  the  right  bank  of  the  Diyalah,  a  fine  stream,  which 
for  a  considerable  distance  runs  parallel  with  the  Tigris 
at  a  distance  of  from  ten  to  thirty  miles  from  it,  and  falls 
into  it  below  Baghdad ;  and  imamzadas  and  villages  with 
groves  of  palms  break  the  line  of  the  horizon,  while  on 
the  left  bank  for  fully  two  miles  are  contiguous  groves 
of  dates  and  pomegranates.  These  groves  are  walled, 
and  among  them  this  semi-decayed  and  ruinous  town  is 
situated,  miserably  shrunk  from  its  former  proportions. 


52  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  in 

We  entered  Yakobiyeh  after  crossing  the  Diyalah  by  a 
pontoon  bridge  of  twelve  boats,  and  found  one  good 
house  with  projecting  lattice  windows,  and  a  large 
entrance  over  which  the  head  and  ears  of  a  hare  were 
nailed ;  narrow,  filthy  lanes,  a  covered  bazar,  very  dark 
and  ruinous,  but  fairly  well  supplied,  an  archway,  and 
within  it  this  caravanserai  in  which  the  baggage  must 
be  waited  for  for  two  hours. 

This  first  experience  of  a  Turkish  inn  is  striking. 
There  is  a  large  square  yard,  heaped  with  dirt  and 
rubbish,  round  which  are  stables  and  some  dark,  ruinous 
rooms.  A  broken  stair  leads  to  a  flat  mud  roof,  on 
which  are  some  narrow  "  stalls," — rooms  they  cannot  be 
called, — with  rude  doors  fastening  only  from  the  outside, 
for  windows  small  round  holes  mostly  stuffed  with  straw 
near  the  roof,  for  floors  sodden  earth,  for  fireplaces  holes  in 
the  same,  the  walls  slimy  and  unplastered,  the  corners  full 
of  ages  of  dusty  cobwebs,  both  the  walls  and  the  rafters 
of  the  roof  black  with  ages  of  smoke,  and  beetles  and 
other  abominations  hurry  into  crannies,  when  the  doors 
are  opened,  to  emerge  as  soon  as  they  are  shut.  A  small 
hole  in  the  wall  outside  each  stall  serves  for  cooking. 
The  habits  of  the  people  are  repulsive,  foul  odours  are 
only  hybernating,  and  so,  mercifully,  are  the  vermin. 

While  waiting  for  the  "  furniture  "  which  is  to  make 
my  "  unfurnished  apartment "  habitable,  I  write  sitting 
on  my  camp  stool  with  its  back  against  the  wall, 
wrapped  up  in  a  horse-blanket,  a  heap  of  saddles,  swords, 
holsters,  and  gear  keeping  the  wind  from  my  feet.  The 
Afghan  orderly  smokes  at  the  top  of  the  stair.  Plumes 
of  palms  and  faintly-seen  ridges  of  snowy  hills  appear 
over  the  battlements  of  the  roof.  A  snow  wind  blows 
keenly.  My  fingers  are  nearly  numb,  and  I  am  generally 
stiff  and  aching,  but  so  much  better  that  discomforts 
are  only  an  amusement.  Snow  is  said  to  be  impending. 


LETTER  in         AN  UNPLEASANT  DEPARTURE  53 

I  have  lunched  frugally  on  sheep's  milk  and  dates, 
and  feel  everything  but  my  present  surroundings  to  be 
very  far  off,  and  as  if  I  had  lived  the  desert  life,  and 
had  heard  the  chimes  of  the  great  caravans,  and  had 
seen  the  wild  desert  riders,  and  the  sun  sinking  below 
the  level  line  of  the  desert  horizon,  for  two  months 
instead  of  two  days. 

Yakobiyeh  is  said  to  have  800  houses.  It  has  some 
small  mosques  and  several  caravanserais,  of  which  this  is 
the  best !  It  was  once  a  flourishing  place,  but  repeated 
ravages  of  the  plague  and  chronic  official  extortions 
have  reduced  it  to  decay.  Nevertheless,  it  grows  grain 
enough  for  its  own  needs  on  poorly  irrigated  soil,  and 
in  its  immense  gardens  apples,  pears,  apricots,  walnuts, 
and  mulberries  flourish  alongside  of  the  orange  and  palm. 

Kizil  Robat,  Jan.  IJf,.  —  It  was  not  very  cold  at 
Yakobiyeh.  At  home  few  people  would  be  able  to  sit 
in  a  fireless  den,  with  the  door  open,  on  a  January 
night,  but  fireless  though  it  was,  my  slender  camp 
equipage  gave  it  a  look  of  comfort,  and  though  rats  or 
mice  ate  a  bag  of  rusks  during  the  night,  and  ran  over 
my  bed,  there  were  no  other  annoyances.  Hadji  grows 
more  dazed  and  possibly  more  unwilling  every  day,  as 
he  sees  his  vista  of  perquisites  growing  more  limited,  and 
to  get  off,  even  at  nine,  I  have  to  do  the  heavy  as  well 
as  the  light  packing  myself. 

There  was  a  great  "  row,"  arising  out  of  an  alleged 
delinquency  of  the  Jcatirgis  concerning  payment,  when 
we  left  Yakobiyeh  the  following  morning.  The  owners 
of  the  caravanserai  wanted  to  detain  us,  and  the  arch- 
way was  so  packed  with  a  shouting,  gesticulating, 
scowling,  and  not  kindly  crowd,  mostly  armed,  that  it  was 
not  easy  for  me  to  mount.  The  hire  of  mules  always 
includes  their  fodder  ancl  the  keep  of  the  men,  but  in 
the  first  day  or  two  the  latter  usually  attempt  to  break 


54  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  in 

their  bargain,  and  compel  their  employer  to  provide  for 
them.  So  long  as  Arabic  is  spoken  Hadji  acts  as  sole 
interpreter,  and  though  soldiers  and  zaptiehs  were  left  with 
him  he  was  scared  at  being  left  behind  with  the  baggage. 
The  people  stormed  and  threatened  at  the  top  of  their 
voices,  but  doubtless  it  was  not  so  bad  as  it  sounded,  for 
we  got  through  the  bazars  without  molestation,  and  then 
into  a  perplexing  system  of  ancient  water-courses  whose 
high  broken  banks  and  deep  waterless  beds  intersect  each 
other  and  the  road.  In  contrast  to  this  magnificent  irriga- 
tion system  there  are  modern  water-channels  about  a  foot 
wide,  taken  from  the  river  Diyalah,  which,  small  as  they 
are,  turn  the  rich  deep  soil  into  a  "  fruitful  field." 

After  these  glimpses  of  a  prosperity  which  once  was 
and  might  be  again  (for  these  vast  alluvial  plains,  which 
extend  from  the  Zagros  mountains  to  the  Euphrates  and 
up  to  the  Syrian  desert,  are  capable  with  irrigation 
and  cultivation  of  becoming  the  granary  of  Western 
Asia),  the  road  emerges  on  a  level  and  somewhat  gravelly 
waste,  on  which  after  a  long  ride  we  were  overtaken  by 
a  zaptieh  sent  by  the  Persian  agent  in  Yakobiyeh,  to  say 
that  the  baggage  and  servants  were  being  forcibly  de- 
tained, but  shortly  afterwards  with  a  good  glass  the 
caravan  was  seen  emerging  from  the  town. 

The  country  was  nearly  as  featureless  as  on  the  pre- 
ceding day,  and  on  the  whole  quite  barren ;  among  the 
few  caravans  on  the  road  there  were  two  of  immense 
value,  the  loads  being  the  best  description  of  Persian 
carpets.  There  were  a  few  families  on  asses,  migrating 
with  all  their  possessions,  and  a  few  parties  of  Arab 
horsemen  picturesquely  and  very  fully  armed,  but  no 
dwellings,  till  in  the  bright  afternoon  sunshine,  on  the 
dreariest  stretch  of  an  apparently  verdureless  waste,  we 
came  on  the  caravanserai  of  Wiyjahea,  a  gateway  with  a 
room  above  it,  a  square  court  with  high  walls  and  arched 


LETTER  in  A  TURKISH  CARAVANSERAI  55 

recesses  all  round  for  goods  and  travellers,  and  large 
stables.  A  row  of  reed  huts,  another  of  Arab  tents,  and 
a  hovel  opposite  the  gateway,  where  a  man  with  two  guns 
within  reach  sells  food,  tobacco,  and  hair  ropes,  make  up 
this  place  of  horror.  For,  indeed,  the  only  water  is  a 
brackish  reedy  pool,  with  its  slime  well  stirred  by  the  feet 
of  animals,  and  every  man's  hand  is  against  his  brother. 

We  proposed  to  pitch  my  tent  in  a  ruined  enclosure, 
but  the  headman  was  unwilling,  and  when  it  was  sug- 
gested that  it  should  be  placed  between  the  shop  and  the 
caravanserai,  he  said  that  before  sunset  all  the  predatory 
Arabs  for  ten  miles  round  would  hear  that  "rich 
foreigners  were  travelling,"  and  would  fall  upon  and 
plunder  us,  so  we  must  pitch,  if  at  all,  in  the  filthy  and 
crowded  court  of  the  caravanserai.  The  lalakhana,  or 
upper  room,  was  too  insecure  for  me,  and  had  no  privacy, 
as  the  fodder  was  kept  in  it,  and  there  was  no  method  of 
closing  the  doors,  which  let  in  the  bitterly  cold  wind. 

We  arrived  at  3  P.M.,  and  long  before  sunset  a  number 
of  caravans  came  in,  and  the  courtyard  was  full  of  horses, 
mules,  and  asses.  When  they  halted  the  loads  were 
taken  off  and  stacked  in  the  arched  recesses ;  next,  the 
great  padded  pack-saddles,  which  cover  nearly  the  whole 
back,  were  removed,  revealing  in  most  cases  deep  sores 
and  ulcers.  Then  the  animals  were  groomed  with  box 
curry-combs,  with  "  clatters"  like  the  noise  of  a  bird-scarer 
inside  them.  Fifty  curry-combs  going  at  once  is  like 
the  din  of  the  cicada.  Then  the  beasts  were  driven  in 
batches  to  the  reedy  pool,  and  came  flying  back  helter- 
skelter  through  the  archway,  some  fighting,  others  play- 
ing, many  rolling.  One  of  them  nearly  pulled  my  tent  over 
by  rolling  among  the  tent  ropes.  It  had  been  pitched 
on  damp  and  filthy  ground  in  a  corner  of  the  yard,  among 
mules,  horses,  asses,  dogs,  and  the  roughest  of  rough  men, 
but  even  there  the  damp  inside  looked  like  home. 


56  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  in 

After  this  brief  hilarity,  the  pack-saddles,  which  serve 
as  blankets,  were  put  on,  the  camels  were  made  to  lie 
down  in  rows,  most  of  the  mules  and  horses  were  tethered 
in  the  great  stable,  where  they  neighed,  stamped,  and 
jangled  their  bells  all  night,  and  others  were  picketed  in 
the  yard  among  the  goats  and  donkeys  and  the  big 
dogs,  which  wandered  about  yelping.  Later,  the  small 
remaining  space  was  filled  up  with  sheep.  It  was  just 
possible  to  move,  but  no  more,  and  sheep  and  goats  were 
even  packed  under  the  jfo/s  of  my  tent.  The  muleteers 
and  travellers  spread  their  bedding  in  the  recesses,  lighted 
their  fires  of  animal  fuel,  and  cooked  their  food. 

At  sunset  the  view  from  the  roof  was  almost  beautiful. 
Far  away,  in  all  directions,  stretched  the  level  desert 
purpling  in  the  purple  light.  Very  faintly,  on  the  far 
horizon  to  the  north-east,  mountain  ranges  were  painted 
in  amethyst  on  an  orange  sky.  Horsemen  in  companies 
galloped  to  tents  which  were  not  in  sight,  strings  of 
camels  cast  their  long  shadows  on  the  purple  sand,  and 
flocks  of  big  brown  sheep,  led  by  armed  shepherds,  con- 
verged on  the  reedy  pool  in  long  brown  lines.  The 
evening  air  was  keen,  nearly  frosty. 

The  prospects  for  the  night  were  not  encouraging,  and 
on  descending  the  filthy  stair  on  which  goats  had  taken 
up  their  quarters,  I  found  the  malodorous,  crowded 
courtyard  so  blocked,  that  shepherds,  with  much  pushing, 
shouting,  and  barking  of  big  dogs,  with  difficulty  made  a 
way  for  me  to  pass  through  the  packed  mass  of  sheep 
and  goats  into  the  cold,  damp  tent,  which  was  pitched  on 
damp  manure,  two  or  three  feet  deep,  into  which  heavy 
feet  had  trampled  the  carpet.  The  uproar  of  katirgis  and 
travellers  went  on  for  another  two  hours,  and  was  ex- 
changed later  for  sounds  of  jangling  bells,  yelping  and 
quarrelling  dogs,  braying  asses,  bleating  sheep,  and  coarsely- 
snoring  men. 


LETTER  in  A  FORLORN  REGION  57 

At  9  P.M.  the  heavy  gates,  clamped  with  iron,  were 
closed  and  barred,  and  some  belated  travellers,  eager  to 
get  in  from  the  perils  of  the  outside,  thundered  at  them 
long  and  persistently,  but  "  the  door  was  shut,"  and  they 
encountered  a  hoarse  refusal.  The  seraidar  said  that 
400  horses  and  mules,  besides  camels  and  asses,  2000 
sheep,  and  over  70  men  were  lodged  in  the  caravanserai 
that  night. 

The  servants  were  in  a  recess  near,  and  Hadji  pro- 
fessed that  he  watched  all  night,  and  said  that  he  fired  at 
a  man  who  tried  to  rob  my  tent  after  the  light  went  out, 
but  I  slept  too  soundly  to  be  disturbed,  till  the  caravans 
and  flocks  left  at  daybreak,  after  a  preliminary  uproar  of 
two  hours.  It  was  bitterly  cold,  and  my  tent  and  its 
contents  were  soaked  with  the  heavy  dew,  nearly  doubling 
their  weight. 

I  started  at  9  A.M.,  before  the  hoar-frost  had  melted, 
and  rode  with  the  zaptieh  over  flat,  stoneless,  alluvial 
soil,  with  some  irrigation  and  the  remains  of  some  fine 
canals.  There  are  villages  to  be  seen  in  the  distance, 
but  though  the  soil  is  rich  enough  to  support  a  very 
large  population,  there  are  no  habitations  near  the  road 
except  a  few  temporary  reed  huts,  beside  two  large 
caravanserais.  There  was  little  of  an  interesting  kind 
except  the  perpetual  contrast  between  things  as  they  are 
and  things  as  they  were  and  might  be.  Some  large 
graveyards,  with  brick  graves,  a  crumbling  imamzada,  a 
pointed  arch  of  brick  over  the  Nahrud  canal,  a  few  ass 
caravans,  with  a  live  fowl  tied  by  one  leg  on  the  back  of 
each  ass,  and  struggling  painfully  to  keep  its  uneasy 
seat,  some  cultivation  and  much  waste,  and  then  we 
reached  the  walled  village  of  Sheraban,  once  a  town,  but 
now  only  possessing  300  houses. 

Passing  as  usual  among  ruinous  dwellings  and  between 
black  walls  with  doors  here  and  there,  by  alleys  foul 


58  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  m 

with  heaps  of  refuse,  and  dangerous  from  slimy  pitfalls, 
in  the  very  foulest  part  we  turned  into  the  caravanserai, 
its  great  courtyard  reeking  with  filth  and  puddles,  among 
which  are  the  contaminated  wells  from  which  we  are 
supposed  to  drink.  The  experience  of  the  night  before 
was  not  repeated.  There  were  fairly  good  rooms,  mine 
looking  into  a  palm  garden,  through  a  wooden  grating, 
cold  truly,  but  pleasant.  I  fear  we  may  never  have  such 
"  luxury  "  again.  I  remarked  to  my  fellow-traveller  that 
our  early  arrival  had  fortunately  given  us  the  "  choice  of 
rooms,"  and  he  replied,  "  choice  of  pig-styes, — choice  of 
dens ! "  but  my  experience  at  Wiyjahea  has  deprived  me 
of  the  last  remnants  of  fastidiousness  ! 

I  walked  through  the  ruinous,  wretched  town,  and  its 
poor  bazar,  where  the  very  fine  physique  of  the  men  was 
in  marked  contrast  with  their  wretched  surroundings,  and 
gives  one  the  impression  that  under  honest  officials  they 
might  be  a  fine  people.  They  are  not  genial  to  strangers, 
however.  There  was  some  bad  language  used  in  the 
bazar,  and  on  the  roads  they  pass  one  in  silence  at  the 
best,  so  unlike  the  Tibetans  with  their  friendly  Tzu.  At 
Sheraban  one  of  the  muleteers  forced  his  way  into  my 
room,  and  roughly  turned  over  my  saddle  and  baggage, 
accusing  me  of  having  taken  his  blanket !  Hadji  is  use- 
less under  such  circumstances.  He  blusters  and  fingers 
his  revolver,  but  carries  no  weight.  Indeed  his  defects 
are  more  apparent  every  day.  I  often  have  to  speak  to 
him  two  or  three  times  before  I  can  rouse  him  from  his 
opium  dream,  and  there  is  a  growing  inclination  to  shirk 
his  very  light  work  when  he  can  shift  it  upon  somebody 
else.  I  hope  that  he  is  well-meaning,  as  that  would  cover 
a  multitude  of  faults,  but  he  is  very  rough  and  ignorant, 
and  is  either  unable  or  unwilling  to  learn  anything,  even 
how  to  put  up  my  trestle  bed ! 

Open  rooms  have  sundry  disadvantages.    In  the  night  a 


LETTER  in  THE  HAMRIN  HILLS  59 

cat  fell  from  the  roof  upon  my  bed,  and  was  soon  joined  by 
more,  and  they  knocked  over  the  lamp  and  milk  bottle, 
and  in  the  darkness  had  a  noisy  quarrel  over  the  milk. 

The  march  of  eighteen  miles  here  was  made  in  six  hours, 
at  a  good  caravan  pace.  The  baggage  animals  were  sent 
off  in  advance,  and  the  zaptieh  led  a  mule  loaded  with 
chairs,  blankets,  and  occupations.  I  ride  with  the  zaptieh 
in  front  of  me  till  I  get  near  the  halting-place,  when 

M and  his  orderly  overtake  me,  as  it  might  be 

disagreeable  for  a  European  woman  to  enter  a  town  alone. 

The  route  lies  over  treeless  levels  of  the  same  brown 
alluvial  soil,  till  it  is  lifted  on  a  gentle  gravelly  slope  to  a 
series  of  low  crumbling  mounds  of  red  and  gray  sandstone, 
mixed  up  with  soft  conglomerate  rocks  of  jasper  and 
porphyry  pebbles.  These  ranges  of  mounds,  known  as 
the  Hamrin  Hills,  run  parallel  to  the  great  Kurdistan 
ranges,  from  a  point  considerably  below  Baghdad,  nearly 
to  Mosul  and  the  river  Zab.  They  mark  the  termination 
in  this  direction  of  the  vast  alluvial  plains  of  the  Tigris 
and  Euphrates,  and  are  the  first  step  to  the  uplifted 
Iranian  plateau. 

Arid  and  intricate  ravines,  dignified  by  the  name  of 
passes,  furrow  these  hills,  and  bear  an  evil  reputation,  as 
Arab  robbers  lie  in  wait,  "making  it  very  unsafe  for 
small  caravans."  A  wild,  desolate,  ill -omened -looking 
region  it  is.  When  we  were  fairly  within  the  pass,  the 
zaptieh  stopped,  and  with  much  gesticulation  and  many 
repetitions  of  the  word  effendi,  made  me  understand  that 
it  was  unsafe  to  proceed  without  a  larger  party.  We 
were  unmolested,  but  it  is  a  discredit  to  the  administra- 
tion of  the  province  that  an  organised  system  of  pillage 
should  be  allowed  to  exist  year  after  year  on  one  of  the 
most  frequented  caravan  routes  in  Turkey.  There  were 
several  companies  of  armed  horsemen  among  the  ranges, 
and  some  camels  browsing,  but  we  met  no  caravans. 


60  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  in 

From  the  top  of  the  descent  there  was  a  striking  view- 
over  a  great  brown  alluvial  plain,  watered  by  the  Beladruz 
and  the  Diyalah,  with  serrated  hills  of  no  great  height,  but 
snow-covered  ;  on  its  east  side  a  silent,  strange,  weird  view, 
without  interest  or  beauty  as  seen  under  a  sullen  sky. 
There  are  no  villages  on  this  march,  but  ancient  canals 
run  in  all  directions,  and  fragments  of  buildings,  as  well 
as  of  brick  and  pottery,  scattered  over  the  unploughed 
surface,  are  supposed  by  many  to  mark  the  situation  of 
Dastagird,  the  residence  of  Khosroe  Parviz  in  the  seventh 
century.  I  have  no  books  of  reference  with  me,  and 
can  seldom  write  except  of  such  things  as  I  see  and 
hear. 

Farther  on  a  multitude  of  irrigation  ditches  have 
turned  a  plain  of  dry  friable  soil  into  a  plain  of  mud, 
through  which  it  was  difficult  to  struggle.  Then  came  a 
grove  of  palms,  and  then  the  town  or  village  of  Kizil 
Kobat  (Red  Shrine),  with  its  imamzada,  whose  reputation 
for  sanctity  is  indicated  by  the  immense  number  of 
graves  which  surround  it.  The  walls  of  this  decayed  and 
wretched  town  are  of  thick  layers  of  hardened  but  now 
crumbling  earth,  and  on  the  east  side  there  is  an  old 
gateway  of  burned  brick.  There  are  said  to  be  400 
houses,  which  at  the  lowest  computation  would  mean  a 
population  of  2000,  but  inhabited  houses  and  ruins  are 
so  jumbled  up  together  that  one  cannot  form  any  estimate. 

So  woe-begone  and  miserable  a  place  I  never  saw, 
and  the  dirt  is  appalling  even  in  this  dry  weather.  In 
spring  the  alleys  of  the  town  are  impassable,  and  people 
whose  business  calls  them  out  cross  from  roof  to  roof  on 
boards.  Pools  of  filthy  water,  loathsome  ditches  with 
broad  margins  of  trodden  slime  full  of  abominations,  ruins 
of  houses,  yards  foul  with  refuse,  half-clothed  and  wholly 
unwashed  children,  men  of  low  aspect  standing  in  melan- 
choly groups,  a  well-built  brick  bazar,  in  which  Man- 


LETTER  in          UNCOMFORTABLE  QUARTERS  61 

Chester  cottons  are  prominent,  more  mud  and  dirt,  some 
ruinous  caravanserais,  and  near  the  extremity  of  the  town 
or  village  is  the  horrible  one  in  which  I  now  am,  said  to  be 
the  best,  with  a  yard  a  foot  deep  in  manure  and  slush,  in 
the  midst  of  which  is  the  well,  and  around  which  are 
stables  and  recesses  for  travellers. 

At  first  it  seemed  likely  that  I  should  fall  so  low  as 
to  occupy  one  of  these,  but  careful  investigation  revealed 
a  ruinous  stair  leading  to  the  roof,  up  which  were  two 
rooms,  or  shall  I  say  three  ? — an  arched  recess  such  as 
coals  are  kept  in,  a  small  room  within  it,  and  a  low  wood 
hole.  The  open  arch,  with  a  mangel  or  iron  pan  of 
charcoal,  serves  as  the  "parlour"  this  January  night, 

M occupies  the  wood  hole,  and  I  the  one  room,  into 

which  Hadji,  with  many  groans  and  ejaculations  of  "Ya 
Allah ! "  has  brought  up  the  essential  parts  of  my  baggage. 
The  evening  is  gray  and  threatening,  and  low,  snow-covered 
hills  look  grimly  over  the  bare  brown  plain  which  lies 
outside  this  mournful  place. 

Khannikin,  Jan.  15. — This  has  been  a  hard,  rough 
march,  but  there  will  be  many  worse  ahead.  Eain  fell 
heavily  all  night,  converting  the  yard  into  a  lake  of 
trampled  mud,  and  seemed  so  likely  to  continue  that  it 
was  difficult  to  decide  whether  to  march  or  halt.  Miser- 
able it  was  to  see  mules  standing  to  be  loaded,  up  to 
their  knees  in  mud,  bales  of  tents  and  bedding  lying  in 
the  quagmire,  and  the  shivering  Indian  servants  up  to 
their  knees  in  the  swamp.  In  rain  steadily  falling  the 
twelve  animals  were  loaded,  and  after  the  usual  scrimmage 
at  starting,  in  which  the  lakhsheesh  is  often  thrown  back  at 
us,  we  rode  out  into  a  sea  of  deep  mud,  through  which  the 
mules,  struggling  and  floundering,  got  on  about  a  mile  an 
hour. 

After  a  time  we  came  to  gravel,  then  relapsed  into 
deep  alluvial  soil,  which  now  means  deep  mire,  then  a 


62  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  in 

low  range  of  gravelly  hills  on  which  a  few  sheep  and 
camels  were  browsing  on  artemisia  and  other  aromatic 
herbs  gave  a  temporary  respite,  then  again  we  floundered 
through  miles  of  mud,  succeeded  by  miles  of  gravel  and 
stones.  The  rain  fell  in  torrents,  and  there  was  a  cold 
strong  wind  to  fight  against.  There  was  that  amount  of 
general  unpropitiousness  which  is  highly  stimulating  and 
inspiriting. 

When  noon  came,  there  was  not  a  rock  or  bush  for 
shelter,  and  turning  our  backs  to  the  storm  we  ate  our 
lunch  in  our  saddles.  There  was  nothing  to  look  at  but 
brown  gravel,  or  brown  mud,  brooded  over  by  a  gray  mist. 
So  we  tramped  on,  hour  after  hour,  in  single  file,  the 
zaptieh  leading,  everything  but  his  gun  muffled  in  his 
brown  abba,  splashing  through  mud  and  water,  the  water 
pouring  from  my  hat  and  cloak,  the  six  woollen  thicknesses 
of  my  mask  dripping,  seeing  neither  villages  nor  caravans, 
for  caravans  of  goods  do  not  travel  in  such  rain  as  this. 
Then  over  a  slope  we  went  down  into  a  lake  of  mud, 
where  the  aide-de-camp  of  the  Governor  of  Khannikin,  in 
a  fez  and  military  frock-coat  and  trousers,  with  a  number 

of  Bashi  Bazouks  or  irregulars,  met  M with  courtesies 

and  an  invitation. 

From  the  top  of  the  next  slope  there  was  a  view  of 
Khannikin,  a  considerable-looking  town  among  groves  of 
palms  and  other  trees.  Then  came  a  worse  sea  of  mud, 
and  a  rudely  cobbled  causeway,  so  horrible  that  it  diverted 
us  back  into  the  mud,  which  was  so  bottomless  that  it 
drove  us  back  to  the  causeway,  and  the  causeway  back  to 
the  mud,  the  rain  all  the  time  coming  down  in  sheets. 
This  causeway,  without  improvement,  is  carried  through 
Khannikin,  a  town  with  narrow  blind  alleys,  upon  which 
foul  courtyards  open,  often  so  foul  as  to  render  the  recent 
ravages  of  cholera  (if  science  speaks  truly)  a  matter  of 
necessity.  The  mud  and  water  in  these  alleys  was  up  to 


LETTER  in        ENTRANCE  INTO  KHANNIKIN  63 

the  knees  of  the  mules.  Not  a  creature  was  in  the 
streets.  No  amount  of  curiosity,  even  regarding  the  rare 
sight  of  a  Frank  woman,  could  make  people  face  the 
storm  in  flimsy  cotton  clothes. 

Where  the  road  turns  to  the  bridge  a  line  of  irregular 
infantry  was  drawn  up,  poorly  dressed,  soaked  creatures, 
standing  in  chilly  mud  up  to  their  ankles,  in  soaked  boots 
reaching  to  their  knees.  These  joined  and  headed  the 
cavalcade,  and  I  fell  humbly  in  the  rear.  Poor  fellows ! 
To  keep  step  was  impossible  when  it  was  hard  work  to 
drag  their  feet  out  of  the  mire,  and  they  carried  their 
rifles  anyhow.  It  was  a  grotesque  procession.  A  trim  officer, 
forlorn  infantry,  wild-looking  Bashi  Bazouks,  Europeans 
in  stout  mackintoshes  splashed  with  mud  from  head  to 
foot,  mules  rolling  under  their  bespattered  loads,  and  a 
posse  of  servants  and  orderlies  crouching  on  the  top  of 
baggage,  muffled  up  to  the  eyes,  the  asses  which  carry 
the  katirgis  and  their  equipments  far  behind,  staggering 
and  nearly  done  up,  for  the  march  of  seventeen  miles  had 
taken  eight  and  a  half  hours. 

An  abrupt  turn  in  the  causeway  leads  to  the  Holwan, 
a  tributary  of  the  Diyalah,  a  broad,  rapid  stream,  over 
which  the  enterprise  of  a  Persian  has  thrown  a  really 
fine  brick  bridge  of  thirteen  heavily -buttressed  arches, 
which  connects  the  two  parts  of  the  town  and  gives  some 
dignity  and  picturesqueness  to  what  would  otherwise  be 
mean.  On  the  left  bank  of  the  Holwan  are  the  barracks, 
the  governor's  house,  some  large  caravanserais,  the  Custom- 
house, and  a  quarantine  station,  quarantine  having  just 
been  imposed  on  all  arrivals  from  Persia,  giving  travel 
and  commerce  a  decided  check. 

After  half  a  mile  of  slush  on  the  river  bank  we 
entered  by  a  handsome  gateway  a  nearly  flooded  court- 
yard, and  the  Governor's  house  hospitably  engorged  the 
whole  party. 


64  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  in 

The  fully-laden  mules  stuck  in  the  mud  a  few  miles 
off,  and  did  not  come  in  for  two  hours,  and  in  spite 
of  covers  everything  not  done  up  in  waterproof  was 
very  wet.  The  servants  looked  most  miserable,  and 
complained  of  chills  and  rheumatism,  and  one  of  the 
orderlies  is  really  ill.  We  cannot  move  till  the  storm 
is  over. 

The  rain  falls  heavily  still,  the  river  is  rising,  the 
alleys  are  two  feet  deep  in  slush,  travel  is  absolutely 
suspended,  and  it  is  not  possible  without  necessity  to  go 
out.  It  was  well  indeed  that  we  decided  to  leave  the 
shelterless  shelter  of  Kizil  Eobat.  Nothing  can  exceed 
the  wretchedness  of  Khannikin  or  any  Turkish  town  in 
such  rain  as  this.  Would  that  one  could  think  that  it 
would  be  washed,  but  as  there  are  no  channels  to  carry 
off  the  water  it  simply  lodges  and  stagnates  in  every  de- 
pression, and  all  the  accumulations  of  summer  refuse 
slide  into  these  abominable  pools,  and  the  foul  dust,  a 
foot  deep,  becomes  mud  far  deeper ;  buried  things  are 
half  uncovered ;  torrents,  not  to  be  avoided,  pour  from 
every  roof,  the  courtyards  are  knee -deep  in  mud,  the 
cows  stand  disconsolately  in  mud ;  not  a  woman  is  to  be 
seen,  the  few  men  driven  forth  by  the  merciless  ex- 
igences of  business  show  nothing  but  one  eye,  and  with 
"  loins  girded "  and  big  staffs  move  wearily,  stumbling 
and  plunging  in  the  mire. 

After  some  hours  the  flat  mud  roofs  begin  to  leak, 
water  finds  out  every  weak  place  in  the  walls,  the  bazars, 
only  half  open  for  a  short  time  in  the  day,  are  deserted 
by  buyers,  and  the  patient  sellers  crouch  over  mangels, 
muffled  up  in  sheepskins,  the  caravanserais  are  crammed 
and  quarrelsome ;  the  price  of  fodder  and  fuel  rises,  and 
every  one  is  drowned  in  rain  and  wretchedness.  Even 
here,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  fuel,  nothing  can  be  dried ; 
the  servants  in  their  damp  clothes  come  in  steaming ; 


LETTER  m  CONTINUED  RAIN  65 

Hadji  in  his  misshapen  "jack-boots,"  which  he  asserts 
he  cannot  take  off,  spreads  fresh  mud  over  the  carpets 
whenever  he  enters ;  I  shift  from  place  to  place  to 
avoid  the  drip  from  the  roof — and  still  the  rain  comes 
down  with  unabated  vigour  ! 


VOL.  I 


66  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  in 


LETTEE    III    (Continued) 

THE  house  consists  of  two  courtyards,  with  buildings 
round  them.  The  larger  and  handsomer  is  the  haram 
or  women's  house,  which  is  strictly  enclosed,  has  no  ex- 
terior windows,  and  its  one  door  into  the  men's  house  is 
guarded  "by  a  very  ancient  eunuch.  The  courtyard  of 
this  house  is  surrounded  partly  by  arched  serdabs,  with 
green  lattice  fronts,  and  partly  by  a  kitchen,  bakery, 
wood -house,  hammam  or  hot  bath,  and  the  servants' 
quarters.  The  haram  has  a  similar  arrangement  on  the 
lower  floor.  A  broad  balcony,  reached  by  a  steep  and 
narrow  stair,  runs  round  three  sides  of  the  upper  part 
of  this  house.  There  are  very  few  rooms,  and  some  of 
them  are  used  for  storing  fruit.  The  wet  baggage  is 
mostly  up  here,  and  under  the  deep  roof  the  servants 
and  orderlies  camp,  looking  miserable.  The  haram  has  a 
balcony  all  round  it,  on  which  a  number  of  reception  and 
living  rooms  open,  and  though  not  grand  or  elaborately 
decorated,  is  convenient  and  comfortable. 

The  Turkish  host  evidently  did  not  know  what  to  do 
with  such  an  embarrassing  guest  as  a  European  woman, 
and  solved  the  difficulty  by  giving  me  the  guest-chamber 
in  the  men's  house,  a  most  fortunate  decision,  as  I  have 
had  quiet  and  privacy  for  three  days.  Besides,  this  room 
has  a  projecting  window,  with  panes  of  glass  held  in  by 
nails,  and  there  is  not  only  a  view  of  the  alley  with  its 
slush,  but  into  the  house  of  some  poor  folk,  and  over  that 


LETTER  in          A  GOVERNOR'S  HOUSEHOLD  67 

to  the  Holwan,  sometimes  in  spate,  sometimes  falling,  and 
through  all  the  hours  of  daylight  frequented  by  grooms 
for  the  purpose  of  washing  their  horses.  Some  shingle 
banks,  now  overflowed,  sustain  a  few  scraggy  willows,  and 
on  the  farther  side  is  some  low-lying  land.  There  may  be 
much  besides,  but  the  heavy  rain- clouds  blot  out  all  else. 

My  room  is  whitewashed,  and  is  furnished  with  Persian 
rugs,  Austrian  bent -wood  chairs,  and  a  divan  in  the 
window,  on  which  I  sleep.  Lamps,  samovars,  and  glasses 
are  kept  in  recesses,  and  a  black  slave  is  often  in  and  out 
for  them.  Otherwise  no  one  enters  but  Hadji.  I  get 
my  food  somewhat  precariously.  It  is  carved  and  sent 
from  table  at  the  beginning  of  meals,  chiefly  pillau,  curry, 
kabobs,  and  roast  chicken,  but  apparently  it  is  not 
etiquette  for  me  to  get  it  till  after  the  men  have  dined, 
and  it  is  none  the  better  for  being  cold. 

The  male  part  of  the  household  consists  of  the 
Governor  and  his  brother-in-law,  a  Moslem  judge,  and 
the  quarantine  doctor,  a  Cretan,  takes  his  meals  in  the 
house.  The  Governor  and  doctor  speak  French.  My 
fellow-traveller  lives  with  them. 

The  night  we  arrived,  the  Governor  in  some  agitation 
asked  me  to  go  and  see  his  wife,  who  is  very  ill 
The  cholera  has  only  just  disappeared,  and  the  lady  had 
had  a  baby,  which  died  of  it  in  three  days,  and  "  being  a 
boy  her  heart  was  broken,"  and  "  something  had  come 
under  her  arm."  So  I  went  with  him  into  the  karam, 
which  seemed  crowded  with  women  of  various  races  and 
colours,  peeping  from  behind  curtains  and  through  chinks 
of  doors,  tittering  and  whispering.  The  wife's  room  is 
richly  carpeted  and  thoroughly  comfortable,  with  a  huge 
charcoal  brazier  in  the  centre,  and  cushions  all  over  the 
floor,  except  at  one  end,  where  there  is  a  raised  alcove 
with  a  bed  in  it. 

On  this  the  lady  sat — a    rather  handsome  Kurdish 


68  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  in 

woman,  about  thirty-five,  dressed  in  a  silk  quilted  jacket, 
and  with  a  black  gauze  handkerchief  round  her  head, 
and  a  wadded  quilt  over  her  crossed  legs.  She  was  sup- 
ported by  a  pile  of  pillows.  Since  then  I  have  been 
sent  for  to  see  her  several  times  every  day,  and  found  her 
always  in  the  same  position.  There  is  surely  something 
weird  about  it.  She  says  she  sits  there  all  night,  and 
has  not  lain  down  for  two  months.  A  black  slave 
was  fanning  her,  and  two  women,  shrouded  in  veils  of 
tinselled  gauze,  sat  on  the  bed  combing  her  luxuriant 
hair.  She  is  not  really  beautiful  at  all,  but  her  husband 
assures  me  constantly  that  she  is  "  une  femme  savante." 
She  has  property  and  the  consideration  which  attaches 
to  it.  She  was  burning  with  fever  and  very  weak. 

I  had  scarcely  returned  to  my  room  when  my  host 
sent  again,  begging  that  I  would  go  back  and  see  the 
doctor.  I  found  that  it  was  expected  that  I  should  per- 
suade the  lady  to  consent  to  have  the  abscess,  or  whatever 
it  is,  reopened.  The  room  was  full  of  women  and  eunuchs, 
and  the  chief  eunuch,  an  elderly  Arab,  sat  on  the  bed 
and  supported  her  while  the  doctor  dressed  the  wound, 
and  even  helped  him  with  it.  Her  screams  were  fearful, 
and  five  people  held  her  with  difficulty.  Her  husband 
left  the  room,  unable  to  bear  her  cries. 

Quite  late  I  was  sent  for  again,  and  that  time  by  the 
lady,  to  know  if  I  thought  she  would  die.  It  appears 
that  her  brother,  the  judge,  remains  here  to  see  that  she 
is  not  the  victim  of  foul  play,  but  I  don't  like  to  ask  to 
whom  the  suspicion  points,  or  whether  our  host,  although 
the  civil  governor,  keeps  him  here  that  he  may  not  be 
suspected  in  case  his  rich  wife  dies. 

Except  for  the  repeated  summonses  to  the  sick-room, 
a  walk  on  the  slime  of  the  roof  when  the  rain  ceases  for 
a  time,  and  on  the  balcony  of  the  haram  when  it  does 
not,  and  a  study  of  the  habits  of  my  neighbours  over  the 


LKTTER  in  THE  HEIGHT  OF  FELICITY  69 

way,  it  is  very  dull.  I  have  patched  and  mended  every- 
thing that  gave  any  excuse  for  either  operation,  have 
written  letters  which  it  is  not  safe  to  post,  and  have 
studied  my  one  book  on  Persia  till  I  know  it  throughout, 
and  still  the  rain  falls  nearly  without  cessation  and  the 
quagmires  outside  deepen. 

So  bad  is  it  that,  dearly  as  Orientals  love  bazars  and 
hammams,  Hadji  refuses  leave  to  go  to  either.  I  re- 
marked to  him  that  he  must  be  glad  of  such  a  rest,  and 
he  replied  in  his  usual  sententious  fashion :  "  They  who 
have  to  work  must  work.  God  knows  all."  I  fear  he 
is  very  lazy,  and  he  has  no  idea  of  making  one  comfort- 
able or  of  keeping  anything  clean.  He  stamps  the  mud 
of  the  courtyard  into  the  carpets,  and  wipes  my  plates 
without  washing  them,  with  his  shirt.  He  considers  that 
our  host  has  attained  the  height  of  human  felicity. 
"  What  is  there  left  to  wish  for  ? "  he  says.  "  He  has 
numbers  of  slaves,  and  he's  always  buying  more,  and  he's 
got  numbers  of  women  and  eunuchs,  and  everything,  and 
when  he  wants  money  he  just  sends  round  the  villages. 
God  is  great !  Ya  Allah  ! " 

Khannikin,  being  the  nearest  town  to  the  Persian 
frontier,  should  be  a  place  of  some  importance.  It  is 
well  situated  at  an  altitude  of  1700  feet  among  groves  of 
palms,  on  both  banks  of  the  Holwan,  and  having  plenty 
of  water,  the  rich  alluvium  between  it  and  Yakobiyeh 
is  able  to  support  its  own  population,  though  it  has  to 
import  for  caravans.  Most  of  the  Persian  trade  with 
Baghdad  and  thousands  of  Shiah  pilgrims  annually  pass 
through  it.  It  is  a  customs  station,  and  has  a  regiment 
of  soldiers.  Nevertheless,  it  is  very  ruinous,  and  its 
population  has  diminished  of  late  years  from  5000  to 
about  1800  (exclusive  of  the  troops),  and  of  this  number 
a  fifth  have  been  carried  off  by  cholera  within  the  last 
few  weeks.  It  has  no  schools,  and  no  special  industries. 


70  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  m 

The  stamp  of  decay  rests  upon  it.  Exactions,  crushing 
hope  out  of  the  people,  the  general  insecurity  of  pro- 
perty, and  the  misrule  which  has  blighted  these  fine 
Asiatic  provinces  everywhere,  sufficiently  explain  its 
decadence. 

The  imposition  of  quarantine  on  arrivals  from  Persia 
has  all  but  stopped  the  supply  of  charcoal,  and  knowing 
the  scarcity  in  the  house,  I  am  going  without  a  fire,  as 
most  of  the  inhabitants  are  doing.  A  large  caravanserai 
outside  the  walls  is  used  as  a  quarantine  station,  and 
three  others  are  taken  as  lazarettos.  Out  of  these 
arrangements  the  officials  make  a  great  deal  of  money  in 
fees,  but  anything  more  horrible  than  the  sanitary  state 
of  these  places  cannot  be  conceived.  The  water  appears 
to  be  the  essence  of  typhoid  fever  and  cholera,  and  the  un- 
fortunate detenus  are  crowded  into  holes  unfit  for  beasts, 
breathing  pestiferous  exhalations,  and  surrounded  by  such 
ancient  and  modern  accumulations  of  horrors  that  typhus 
fever,  cholera,  and  even  the  plague  might  well  be  expected 
to  break  out. 

Yesterday,  for  a  brief  interval,  hills  covered  with  snow 
appeared  through  rolling  black  clouds,  and  a  change 
seemed  probable,  but  rain  fell  in  torrents  all  night ;  there 
is  a  spate  in  the  river,  and  though  we  were  ready  to  start 
at  eight  this  morning,  the  katirgis  declined  to  move,  say- 
ing that  the  road  could  not  be  travelled  because  of  the 
depth  of  the  fords  and  the  mud. 

The  roof,  though  a  good  one,  is  now  so  leaky  that  I 
am  obliged  to  sleep  under  my  waterproof  cloak,  and  the 
un-puttied  window-frames  let  in  the  rain.  Early  this 
morning  a  gale  from  the  south-west  came  on,  and  the 
howling  and  roaring  have  been  frightful,  the  rain  falling 
in  sheets  most  of  the  time.  Sensations  are  not  wanting. 
One  of  the  orderlies  is  seriously  ill,  and  has  to  be  left 
behind  under  medical  care  till  he  can  be  sent  to  India, — 


LETTER  in  THE  HARAM  71 

the  second  man  who  has  broken  down.  A  runner  came  in 
with  the  news  that  all  caravans  are  stopped  in  the  Zagros 
mountains  by  snow,  which  has  been  falling  for  five  days, 
and  that  the  road  is  not  expected  to  be  open  for  a  fort- 
night. Later,  the  Persian  agent  called  to  say  that  on  the 
next  march  the  road,  which  is  carried  on  a  precipice  above 
the  river,  has  slid  down  bodily,  and  that  there  are  fifteen 
feet  of  water  where  there  should  be  only  two.  Of  course 
this  prolonged  storm  is  "  exceptional."  The  temperature 
is  falling,  and  it  is  so  cold  without  a  fire  that  though 
my  bed  is  only  a  blanket -covered  dais  of  brick  and 
lime,  dripped  upon  continually,  in  a  window  with  forty 
draughts,  I  am  glad  to  muffle  myself  up  in  its  blankets 
and  write  among  wraps. 

The  Governor,  recognising  the  craze  of  Europeans  for 

exercise,  sent  word  that  M might  walk  in  the 

balcony  of  the  haram  if  I  went  to  chaperon  him,  and  this 
great  concession  was  gladly  accepted,  for  it  was  the  only 
possible  way  of  getting  warm.  The  apparition  of  a 
strange  man,  and  a  European,  within  the  precincts  of  the 
haram  was  a  great  event,  and  every  window,  curtain,  and 
doorway  was  taken  advantage  of  by  bright  dark  eyes 
sparkling  among  folds  of  cotton  and  gauze.  The  enjoy- 
ment was  surreptitious,  but  possibly  all  the  more  keen, 
and  sounds  of  whispering  and  giggling  surged  out  of 
every  crevice.  There  are  over  thirty  women,  some  of 
them  negresses.  Some  are  Kurds  and  very  handsome, 
but  the  faces  of  the  two  handsomest,  though  quite  young, 
have  something  fiendish  in  their  expression.  I  have  seldom 
seen  a  haram  without  its  tragedies  of  jealousy  and  hate, 
and  every  fresh  experience  makes  me  believe  that  the 
system  is  as  humiliating  to  men  as  it  is  to  women. 

The  haram  reception-rooms  here  are  large  and  bright, 
with  roofs  and  cornices  worked  daintily  in  very  white 
plaster,  and  there  are  superb  carpets  on  the  floors,  and 


72  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  in 

divans  covered  with  Damascus  embroidery  in  gold  silk  on 
cream  muslin. 

Each  day  the  demands  for  my  presence  in  the  sick- 
room are  more  frequent,  and  though  I  say  that  I  can 
scarcely  aspire  to  be  a  nurse,  they  persist  in  thinking 
that  I  am  a  Hakim,  and  possibly  a  useful  spy  on  the 
doctor.  I  have  become  aware  that  unscrupulous  jeal- 
ousy of  the  principal  wife  exists,  and,  as  is  usual  in 
the  East,  everybody  distrusts  everybody  else,  and  pre- 
fers to  trust  strangers.  The  husband  frequently  asks 
me  to  remove  what  seems  a  cancerous  tumour,  and  the 
doctor  says  that  an  operation  is  necessary  to  save  the 
lady's  life,  but  when  I  urge  him  to  perform  it,  and  offer 
a  nurse's  help,  he  replies  that  if  she  were  to  die  he 
would  be  at  once  accused  of  murder,  and  would  run  a 
serious  risk. 

The  Governor  to-day  was  so  anxious  that  I  should 
persuade  the  lady  to  undergo  an  operation  that  he  even 
brought  Hadji  into  the  room  to  interpret  what  I  said  in 
Arabic.  His  ceaseless  question  is,  "  Will  she  die  ? "  and 
she  asks  me  the  same  many  times  every  day.  She 
insists  that  I  shall  be  present  each  day  when  the  wound 
is  dressed,  and  give  help,  lest  the  doctor  without  her 
leave  should  plunge  a  knife  into  the  swelling.  These 
are  most  distressing  occasions,  for  an  hour  of  struggle  and 
suffering  usually  ends  in  delirium. 

This  afternoon,  however,  she  was  much  freer  from 
pain,  and  sent  for  me  to  amuse  her.  She  wore  some  fine 
jewels,  and  some  folds  of  tinselled  gauze  round  her  head, 
and  looked  really  handsome  and  intelligent.  Her  hus- 
band wished  that  we  could  converse  without  his  imperfect 
interpreting,  and  repeated  many  times,  "  She  is  a  learned 
woman,  and  can  write  and  read  several  languages."  The 
room  was  as  usual  full  of  women,  who  had  removed  their 
veils  at  their  lord's  command.  I  showed  the  lady  some 


LETTER  in  CHRONIC  ENNUI  73 

Tibetan  sketches,  but  when  I  came  to  one  of  a  man  the 
women  replaced  their  veils  ! 

When  I  showed  some  embroidery,  the  Governor  said  he 
had  heard  that  the  Queen  of  England  employed  herself 
with  her  needle  in  leisure  hours,  but  that  it  is  not  comme 
il  faut  here  for  ladies  to  work.  It  seems  that  the  making 
of  sweetmeats  is  the  only  occupation  which  can  be 
pursued  without  loss  of  dignity.  Is  it  wonderful  that 
intolerable  ennui  should  be  productive  of  the  miserable 
jealousies,  rivalries,  intrigues,  and  hatreds  which  accompany 
the  system  of  polygamy  ? 

The  host,  although  civil  governor  of  a  large  district, 
also  suffers  from  ennui.  The  necessary  official  duties  are 
very  light,  and  the  accounts  and  reports  are  prepared  by 
others.  If  money  is  wanted  he  makes  "  an  exaction  "  on 
a  village,  and  subordinates  screw  it  out  of  the  people. 
Justice,  or  the  marketable  commodity  which  passes  for 
such,  is  administered  by  a  kadi.  He  clatters  about  the 
balconies  with  slippered  feet,  is  domestic,  that  is,  he 
spends  most  of  the  day  in  the  haram,  smokes,  eats  two 
meals  of  six  or  seven  courses  each,  and  towards  evening 
takes  a  good  deal  of  wine,  according  to  a  habit  which  is 
becoming  increasingly  common  among  the  higher  classes 
of  Moslems.  He  is  hospitable,  and  is  certainly  anything 
but  tyrannical  in  his  household. 

The  customs  and  ways  of  the  first  Turkish  house  I 
have  visited  in  would  be  as  interesting  to  you  as  they 
were  to  myself,  but  it  would  be  a  poor  return  for 
hospitality  to  dwell  upon  anything,  unless,  like  the 
difficulties  regarding  the  illness  of  the  principal  wife, 
it  were  a  matter  of  common  notoriety. 

It  is  a  punishable  act  in  Persia,  and  possibly  here  also, 
to  look  into  a  neighbour's  house,  but  I  cannot  help  it 
unless  I  were  to  avoid  the  window  altogether.  "Wealth 
and  poverty  are  within  a  few  feet  of  each  other,  and 


74  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  in 

as  Moslems  are  charitable  to  a  degree  and  in  a  manner 
which  puts  us  to  shame,  the  juxtaposition  is  advantageous. 

My  neighbour's  premises  consist  of  a  very  small  and 
mean  yard,  now  a  foot  deep  in  black  mire,  a  cow-shed, 
and  a  room  without  door  or  windows,  with  a  black  un- 
even floor,  and  black  slimy  rafters — neither  worse  nor 
better  than  many  hovels  in  the  Western  Isles  of  Scotland. 
A  man  in  middle  life,  a  woman  of  dubious  age,  two  girls 
from  eight  to  ten  years  old,  and  a  boy  a  little  older  are 
the  occupants.  The  furniture  consists  of  some  wadded 
quilts,  a  copper  pot,  an  iron  girdle,  a  clay  ewer  or  two,  a 
long  knife,  a  wooden  spoon,  a  clay  receptacle  for  grain, 
two  or  three  earthenware  basins,  glazed  green,  and  a 
wicker  tray.  The  cow -shed  contains — besides  the  cow, 
which  is  fed  on  dried  thistles — a  spade,  an  open  basket, 
and  a  baggage  pad.  A  few  fowls  live  in  the  house,  and 
are  disconcerted  to  find  that  they  cannot  get  out  of  it 
without  swimming. 

The  weather  is  cold  and  raw,  fuel  is  enormously 
dear,  work  is  at  a  standstill,  and  cold  and  ennui  keep 
my  neighbours  in  bed  till  the  day  is  well  advanced. 
"  Bed  "  consists  of  a  wadded  quilt  laid  on  the  floor,  with 
another  for  a  'covering.  The  man  and  boy  sleep  at 
one  end  of  the  room,  the  woman  and  girls  at  the  other, 
with  covered  heads.  None  make  any  change  in  their 
dress  at  night,  except  that  the  man  takes  off  the  pagri 
of  his  turban,  retaining  only  a  skull  cap. 

The  woman  gets  up  first,  lights  a  fire  of  tamarisk 
twigs  and  thistles  in  a  hole  in  the  middle  of  the  floor, 
makes  porridge  of  some  coarse  brownish  flour  and  water, 
and  sets  it  on  to  warm — to  boil  it,  with  the  means  at  her 
disposal,  is  impossible.  She  wades  across  the  yard,  gives 
the  cow  a  bunch  of  thistles,  milks  it  into  a  basin,  adds  a 
little  leaven  to  the  milk,  which  she  shakes  in  a  goat  skin 
till  it  is  thick,  carries  the  skin  and  basket  to  the  house, 


LETTER  in        A  GLIMPSE  OF  PEASANT  LIFE  75 

feeds  the  fowls  from  the  basket,  and  then  rouses  her  lord. 
He  rises,  stretches  himself,  yawns,  and  places  himself 
cross-legged  by  the  fire,  after  putting  on  his  pagri.  The 
room  is  dense  with  pungent  wood  smoke,  which  escapes 
through  the  doorway,  and  only  a  few  embers  remain. 
The  wife  hands  him  an  earthen  bowl,  pours  some  porridge 
into  it,  adds  some  "  thick  milk  "  from  the  goat  skin,  and 
stands  before  him  with  her  arms  crossed  while  he  eats, 
then  receives  the  bowl  from  his  hands  and  kisses  it,  as  is 
usual  with  the  slaves  in  a  household. 

Then  she  lights  his  pipe,  and  while  he  enjoys  it 
she  serves  her  boy  with  breakfast  in  the  same  fashion, 
omitting  the  concluding  ceremony,  after  which  she  and 
the  girls  retire  to  a  respectful  distance  with  the  big  pot, 
and  finish  its  contents  simultaneously.  The  pipe  over, 
she  pours  water  on  her  lord's  hands,  letting  it  run  on  the 
already  damp  floor,  and  wipes  them  with  her  chadar. 
No  other  ablution  is  customary  in  the  house. 

Poor  as  this  man  is,  he  is  a  Hadji,  and  having  brought 
from  Mecca  a  "  prayer  stone,"  with  the  Prophet's  hand 
upon  it,  he  takes  it  from  his  girdle,  puts  it  on  the  floor, 
bows  his  forehead  on  it,  turning  Mecca-ward,  and  says  his 
prayers,  repeating  his  devotions  towards  evening.  The 
first  day  or  two  he  went  out,  but  the  roads  now  being 
almost  impassable,  he  confines  himself  to  the  repairing  of 
a  small  dyke,  which  keeps  the  water  from  running  into 
the  room,  which  is  lower  than  the  yard5  and  performs  its 
duty  very  imperfectly,  the  soak  from  the  yard  and  the 
drip  from  the  roof  increasing  the  sliminess  hourly.  These 
repairs,  an  occasional  pipe,  and  much  sleep  are  the  record 
of  this  man's  day  till  an  hour  before  sunset,  when  the 
meal  of  the  morning  is  repeated  with  the  addition  of 
some  cheese. 

The  children  keep  chiefly  in  bed.  Meanwhile  the 
woman,  the  busy  bee  of  the  family,  contrives  to  patter 


76  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  in 

about  nearly  all  day  in  wet  clothing,  carrying  out 
rubbish  in  single  handfuls,  breaking  twigs,  cleaning  the 
pot,  and  feeding  the  cow.  The  roof,  which  in  fine  weather 
is  the  scene  of  most  domestic  occupations,  is  reached 
by  a  steep  ladder,  and  she  climbs  this  seven  times  in 
succession,  each  time  carrying  up  a  fowl,  to  pick  for 
imaginary  worms  in  the  slimy  mud.  Dyed  yarn  is  also 
carried  up  to  steep  in  the  rain,  and  in  an  interval  of 
dryness  some  wool  was  taken  up  and  carded.  An  hour 
before  sunset  she  lights  the  fire,  puts  on  the  porridge, 
and  again  performs  seven  journeys  with  seven  fowls, 
feeds  them  in  the  house,  attends  respectfully  to  her  lord, 
feeds  her  family,  including  the  cow,  paddles  through 
mire  to  draw  water  from  the  river,  and  unrolls  and 
spreads  the  wadded  quilts.  By  the  time  it  is  dark  they 
are  once  more  in  bed,  where  I  trust  this  harmless, 
industrious  woman  enjoys  a  well-earned  sleep. 

The  clouds  are  breaking,  and  in  spite  of  adverse 
rumours  it  is  decided  coiite  gue,  cotite  to  start  to-morrow. 
For  my  own  part  I  prefer  the  freedom  even  with  the 
"  swinishness  "  of  a  caravanserai  to  receiving  hospitality 
for  which  no  fitting  return  can  be  made.  I.  L.  B. 


LETTER  iv       DEPARTURE  FROM  KHANNIKIN  77 


LETTEE  IV 

SABIPUL-I-ZOHAB,  Jan.  SI. 

THE  rain  at  last  ceased,  and  after  the  katirgis  had 
squabbled  for  an  hour  over  the  baggage,  we  got  off  at 
ten,  two  days  ago,  very  grateful  for  shelter  and  hospi- 
tality under  such  untoward  circumstances.  Six  Bashi 
Bazouks  and  two  zaptiehs  on  foot  in  ragged  and  in- 
congruous uniforms  escorted  us  to  the  Turkish  frontier. 

The  streets  were  in  a  terrible  condition,  and  horse  and 
footmen,  after  an  attempt  to  march  in  pairs,  fell  perforce 
into  a  floundering  and  disorderly  single  file,  the  footmen 
occasionally  pulling  themselves  out  of  mud  holes  by  the 
tails  of  the  horses.  Outside  the  town  there  was  an 
expanse  of  mud  and  flooded  water-channels  which  broke 
up  the  last  attempt  at  a  procession,  and  led  to  a  general 
sauve  qui  pent.  The  mire  was  tenacious  and  up  to  the 
horses'  knees,  half  the  mules  were  down  with  their  loads, 
Hadji  rolled  into  the  mud,  my  capable  animal  snorted 
and  struggled,  some  went  on  banks  and  some  took 
to  streams,  the  asses  had  to  be  relieved  of  their  loads, 
and  the  air  was  full  of  shouts  and  objurgations,  till  after 
much  delay  the  forlorn  rabble  all  struggled  to  the  terra 
firma  of  a  gravelly  slope,  splashed  from  head  to  foot. 

The  road  crosses  low,  rolling,  gravelly  hills,  with  an 
occasional  outcrop  of  red  sandstone,  and  ascends  on  the 
whole.  The  sun  was  bright,  but  the  wind  was  strong 
and  very  cold.  The  Bashi  Bazouk  escort  was  altogether 


78  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  iv 

harum-scarum  and  inconsequent,  careering  in  circles,  and 
firing  at  birds  (which  they  never  hit)  from  the  saddle, 
and  when  we  reached  some  low  hills  bearing  a  bad 
reputation,  the  officer,  in  order  to  represent  danger  and 
his  vigilant  care,  threw  them  out  in  all  directions  scout- 
ing for  robbers,  till  we  came  to  a  steepish  hill  crowned 
by  a  round  tower  with  a  mushroom  top,  a  few 
ruinous  mud  buildings,  and  a  tattered  tent.  Here  the 
escort  formed  into  one  line,  and  the  ragged  garrison  into 
another,  with  an  officer  facing  them,  and  were  photo- 
graphed as  they  shivered  in  the  biting  wind.  This  tower 
is  a  Turkish  frontier  fort. 

Soon  afterwards  the  Persian  frontier  is  crossed, 
the  hills  increase  considerably  in  size,  and  mud  was 
exchanged  for  firm,  rough  gravel.  A  feature  of  the 
otherwise  featureless  landscape  is  the  frequent  occurrence 
of  towers  like  martello  towers,  on  hill-tops,  placed  there 
for  the  shelter  of  the  guards  who  formerly  kept  a  look- 
out for  robbers.  In  the  uninteresting  gravel  lie  pebbles 
of  jasper  and  agate,  emerald  green,  red,  yellow,  and 
purple.  The  first  object  of  the  slightest  interest  in  this 
new  country  was  a  village  of  Ilyats,  built  of  reed  screens, 
with  roofs  of  goafs-hair  cloth,  and  with  small  yards  with 
reed  walls  in  front.  The  women,  who  wore  full  trousers 
and  short  jackets,  were  tall,  somewhat  striking-looking, 
and  unveiled.  Their  hair  hung  down  in  long  plaits,  and 
they  wore  red  handkerchiefs  knotted  at  the  back  of  the 
head. 

There  an  escort  of  four  Persian  sowars  joined  us.  The 
type  of  face  was  that  with  which  we  are  familiar  on  Sasan- 
ian  coins  and  sculptured  stones,  the  brow  and  chin  receding 
considerably,  and  the  nose  thin  and  projecting,  the  profile 
suggesting  a  beak  rather  than  a  human  face,  and  the  skin 
having  the  appearance  of  being  drawn  so  tightly  over  the 
bones  as  to  force  the  eyes  into  singular  prominence. 


LETTER  iv  KASR-I-SHIRIN  79 

A  six  hours'  march  ended  at  the  wildly-situated  village 
of  Kasr-i-Shirin,  high  on  the  right  hank  of  the  Holwan, 
with  a  plantation  of  dates  on  the  left  bank  and  consider- 
able cultivation  in  the  valley.  It  has  only  eighty  houses 
of  the  most  wretched  construction,  rivalled  in  height 
and  size  by  middens,  the  drainage  of  which  wastes  itself 
on  the  wretched  roadway.  A  caravanserai  of  the  most 
miserable  description,  a  square  fort  with  a  small  garrison, 
and  some  large  graveyards  with  domed  tombs  and 
curious  obelisks,  are  the  salient  features  of  this  village. 
Its  wretched  aspect  is  accounted  for  by  its  insecurity. 
It  has  been  destroyed  by  robber  tribes  as  often  as  there 
was  anything  worth  destroying,  and  it  has  been  so  tossed 
to  and  fro  between  Turkey  and  Persia  as  not  to  have 
any  of  the  special  characteristics  of  either  empire. 

"We  stopped  short  of  the  village,  at  a  great  pile  of 
building  on  a  height,  in  massiveness  and  irregularity 
resembling  a  German  medieval  castle,  in  which  a  letter 
had  secured  accommodation.  It  has  been  unoccupied 
since  its  owner,  Jan  Mir,  a  sheikh  of  a  robber  tribe,  and 
the  terror  of  the  surrounding  neighbourhood,  was  made 
away  with  by  the  Persian  Government. 

The  accommodation  consisted  of  great,  dark,  arched, 
vaulted  rooms,  with  stone-flagged  floors,  noble  in  size,  but 
needing  fifty  candles  and  huge  log  fires  to  light  up  and 
warm  their  dark  recesses,  and  gruesome  and  damp  with 
one  candle  and  a  crackle  of  twigs.  They  were  clean, 
however,  and  their  massive  walls  kept  out  the  cold. 
The  village  is  at  an  elevation  of  2300  feet,  and  the 
temperature  has  greatly  changed. 

The  interest  of  Kasr-i-Shirin  is  that  it  lies  among 
masses  of  ancient  rubble,  and  that  the  slopes  which 
surround  it  are  completely  covered  with  hewn  and 
unhewn  stones  of  all  sizes,  the  relics  of  a  great  city,  at 
the  western  extremity  of  which  the  present  wretched 


80  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  iv 

hamlet  stands.1  The  walls,  which  are  easily  traced, 
enclose  an  irregular  square,  the  shortest  front  of  which  is 
said  to  be  three  miles  long.  They  are  built  of  roughly- 
hewn  blocks  of  gray  and  red  sandstone,  and  very  hard 
mortar  or  concrete.  The  blocks  are  so  huge  in  many 
places  as  to  deserve  the  often  misused  epithet  Cyclopean. 
Within  this  enclosure  are  remains  of  houses  built  of 
water-worn  round  stones,  which  lie  in  monstrous  heaps, 
and  of  a  large  fort  on  an  eminence.  In  another  direction 
are  the  ruins  of  an  immense  palace  of  quadrangular  form, 
with  only  one  entrance,  and  large  underground  rooms 
now  nearly  choked  up.  There  are  remains  of  what  must 
have  been  very  fine  archways,  but  as  the  outer  coating  of 
hewn  stone  and  all  the  decorations  have  fallen  off,  leaving 
only  the  inner  case  of  rough  rubble  and  concrete,  the 
architectural  forms  are  very  badly  defined,  and  the  aspect 
of  what  must  once  have  been  magnificent  is  now  for- 
bidding and  desolate.  The  remains  of  an  aqueduct  cut 
in  the  rock,  and  of  troughs  and  stone  pipes  by  which 
water  was  brought  into  the  palace  and  city,  from  a  distance 
of  fifteen  miles,  are  still  traceable  among  the  desolations, 
but  of  the  beautiful  gardens  which  they  watered,  and 
with  which  Khosroe  surrounded  the  beautiful  Shirin,  not 
a  trace  remains.  There  was  a  pale  sunset,  flushing  with 

1  Another  interest,  however,  is  its  connection  with  many  of  the  romantic 
legends  still  told  of  Khosroe  Parviz  and  his  beautiful  queen,  complicated 
with  love  stories  concerning  the  sculptor  Farhad,  to  whom  the  Persians 
attribute  some  of  their  most  famous  rock  sculptures.  One  of  the  most 
romantic  of  these  legends  is  that  Farhad  loved  Shirin,  and  that  Khosroe 
was  aware  of  it,  and  promised  to  give  her  to  him  if  he  could  execute  the 
impossible  task  of  bringing  to  the  city  the  abundant  waters  of  the  moun- 
tains. Farhad  set  himself  to  the  Herculean  labour,  and  to  the  horror  of 
the  king  nearly  accomplished  it,  when  Khosroe,  dreading  the  advancing 
necessity  of  losing  Shirin  or  being  dishonoured,  sent  to  inform  him  of  her 
death.  Being  at  the  time  on  the  top  of  a  precipice,  urging  on  the  work  of 
the  aqueduct,  the  news  filled  him  with  such  ungovernable  despair  that 
he  threw  himself  down  and  was  killed. 


LETTER  iv  SAEIPUL-I-ZOHAB  81 

pale  pink  distant  leagues  of  sodden  snow,  and  right  across 
a  lurid  opening  in  a  heavy  mass  of  black  clouds  the  great 
ruined  pile  of  the  palace  of  Khosroe  the  Magnificent  stood 
out,  a  dismal  commentary  on  splendour  and  fame. 

The  promise  of  the  evening  was  fulfilled  the  next  day 
in  windy  rain,  which  began  gently,  but  afterwards  fell  in 
persistent  torrents,  varied  by  pungent  swirls  of  sleet  and 
snow.  Leaving  the  gash  through  cliffs  with  curious 
stratification  in  white  and  red,  formed  by  the  Holwan, 
the  day  was  spent  in  skirting  or  crossing  low  hills. 
The  mud  was  very  deep  and  tenacious,  and  the  rate  of 
progress  barely  two  miles  an  hour.  There  were  no 
caravans,  travellers,  or  population,  and  no  birds  or  beasts. 
The  rain  clouds  hung  low  and  heavy,  mists  boiled  up 
from  among  the  folds  of  the  hills,  the  temperature  fell 
perceptibly.  It  was  really  inspiriting  for  people  pro- 
tected by  good  mackintoshes. 

After  riding  for  six  hours  the  rain  changed  into  sleet 
and  wet  snow,  blotting  out  the  hills  and  creating  an 
unnatural  twilight,  in  which  we  floundered  in  mud  up  to 
the  mules'  knees  into  the  filthiest  village  I  have  ever 
seen,  a  compound  of  foul,  green  ditches,  piles  of  dissolving 
manure,  mud  hovels  looking  as  if  they  were  dissolving  too, 
reed  huts,  and  an  Ilyat  village,  gr6uped  round  the  vilest 
of  caravanserais,  the  entrance  to  which  was  knee-deep  in 
mire.  To  lodge  in  it  was  voted  impossible,  and  the 
escort  led  us  in  the  darkening  mist  and  pelting  sleet  to 
an  adjacent  mud  hamlet  as  hopeless-looking  on  the  other 
side  of  the  bridge,  where,  standing  up  to  the  knees  of  the 
mules  in  liquid  manure,  we  sought  but  vainly  for  shelter, 
forded  the  Holwan,  and  returned  to  the  caravanserai 
through  almost  impassable  slush. 

It  was  simply  loathsome,  with  its  stench,  its  foulness, 
and  its  mire,  and  was  already  crowded  and  noisy  with 
men  and  beasts.  There  was  a  great  courtyard  with  arched 
VOL.  i  G 


82 


JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA 


LETTER  IV 


recesses  all  round,  too  abominable  to  be  occupied,  too 
exposed  and  ruinous,  even  had  they  been  cleaned,  to  give 
shelter  from  the  driving  sleet.  The  last  resource  was  to  pass 
through  an  archway  into  the  great,  lofty  mule  stable,  on 
both  sides  of  which  are  similar  recesses  or  mangers,  about 
ten  feet  by  seven  and  about  eight  feet  high.  The  stable 
was  of  great  size  and  height  with  a  domed  roof.  Probably 
it  runs  half-way  round  the  quadrangle  at  the  back  of  the 
uninhabitable  recesses.  There  were  at  least  four  hundred 
mules  in  this  place,  jangling  their  great  bells,  and  crowds 


LODGINGS   FOR  TRAVELLERS. 


of  katirgis,  travellers,  and  zaptiehs,  all  wet  and  splashed 
over  their  heads  with  mud,  some  unloading,  others  mak- 
ing fires  and  feeding  their  mules,  all  shouting  when  they 
had  anything  to  say,  the  Babel  aggravated  by  the  clatter 
of  the  rattles  of  a  hundred  curry-combs  and  the  squeals 
of  fighting  horses. 

The  floor  was  deep  with  the  manure  of  ages  and  piled 
with  bales  and  boxes.  In  the  side  recesses,  which  are 
about  the  height  of  a  mule's  back,  the  muleteers  camped 
with  their  fires  and  their  goods,  and  laid  the  provender 
for  their  beasts  in  the  front.  These  places  are  the 
mangers  of  the  eastern  caravanserai,  or  khan,  or  inn. 
Such  must  have  been  the  inn  at  Bethlehem,  and  surely 


LETTER  iv       A  ROOM  WITH  "  PRETENSIONS "  83 

the  first  step  to  the  humiliation  of  "  the  death  of  the 
cross  "  must  have  been  the  birth  in  the  manger,  amidst 
the  crowd  and  horrors  of  such  a  stable. 

The  odour  was  overpowering  and  the  noise  stunning, 
and  when  our  wet,  mud-covered  baggage  animals  came 
in,  adding  to  the  din,  there  was  hardly  room  to  move,  far 
less  for  the  roll  in  which  all  mules  indulge  when  the 
loads  are  taken  off ;  and  the  crush  resulted  in  a  fight,  and 
one  mule  got  his  fore  -  feet  upon  my  "  manger,"  and 
threatened  to  share  it  with  me.  It  was  an  awful  place 
to  come  to  after  a  six  hours'  march  in  rain  and  snow,  but 
I  slid  off  my  mule  into  the  recess,  had  it  carpeted, 
put  down  my  chair,  hung  a  blanket  up  in  front,  and 
prepared  to  brave  it,  when  the  inhabitants  of  this  room, 
the  one  place  which  has  any  pretensions  to  being  a  room 
in  the  village,  were  bribed  by  an  offer  of  six  Jcrans  (about 
four  shillings)  to  vacate  it  for  me.  Its  "  pretensions " 
consist  in  being  over  a  gateway,  and  in  having  a  door, 
and  a  square  hole  looking  on  the  street ;  a  crumbling 
stair  slippery  with  mud  leads  up  to  it.  The  roof  leaks 
in  every  direction,  and  the  slimy  floor  is  full  of  pools, 
but  it  is  luxury  after  the  caravanserai  stable,  and  with 
one  waterproof  sheet  over  my  bed  and  another  over 
myself  I  have  fared  well,  though  the  door  cannot  be  shut, 
and  the  rest  of  the  party  are  in  the  stable  at  an 
impassable  distance. 

Our  language  happily  has  no  words  in  which  the 
state  of  this  village  can  be  described.  In  front  of  this 
room  is  a  broken  ditch  full  of  slimy  greenish  water, 
which  Hadji  took  for  my  tea !  There  has  been  a  slight 
snowfall  during  the  night,  and  snow  is  impending.  We 
have  now  reached  a  considerable  altitude,  and  may  expect 
anything.  Hadji  has  just  climbed  the  stair  with  groans 
of  "  Ya  Allah''  and  has  almost  wailed  out,  " Colonel  says 
we  go — God  help  us." 


84  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  iv 

Xirrind,  Jan.  23. — From  Saripul-i-Zohab  we  are 
taking  the  most  southerly  of  the  three  routes  to  Kirman- 
shah  traversed  by  Sir  H.  Eawlinson  in  1836. 1  A  sea  of 
mud  varied  by  patches  of  sodden  snow,  walls  of  rock 
with  narrow  passes,  great  snow-covered  mountains,  seen 
spectrally  for  a  minute  at  a  time  through  swirling  snow- 
clouds,  black  tents  of  nomads,  half-drowned  villages,  and 
a  long,  cold,  steep  ascent,  among  scrub  oaks  and  dwarf 
ash,  to  snow  which  was  not  melting,  and  the  hospitalities 
of  a  Kurdish  village,  comprise  the  interests  of  the  march 
from  Saripul  to  Myan  Tak,  so  far  as  they  lie  on  the 
surface,  but  in  various  ways  this  part  of  Kurdistan  has 
many  interests,  not  to  be  absolutely  ignored  even  in  a 
familiar  letter. 

Here  the  Ilyats,  who  are  supposed  to  constitute  a  fifth 
of  the  rural  population  of  Persia,  are  met  with  in  large 
numbers,  and  their  brown  flocks  and  herds  are  still 
picking  up  a  scanty  subsistence.  The  great  chief  of  this, 
the  Guran  tribe,  holds  the  region  on  an  annual  payment 
to  the  Persian  Government,  gives  grain  to  his  tribesmen, 
and  receives  from  them,  of  corn  one-half,  and  of  rice  two- 
thirds  of  the  crop.  These  people  sow  their  grain  in  early 
spring,  and  then  move  up  with  their  flocks  to  the 
mountain  pastures,  leaving  behind  only  a  few  men  to 
harvest  the  crops.  They  use  no  manure,  this  being 
required  for  fuel,  and  in  the  case  of  rice  they  allow  a 
fallow  of  at  least  seven  years.  There  are  very  few 
cultivators  resident  upon  these  lands,  but  Ilyat  camps 
occur  frequently. 

The  region  is  steeped  in  history.  The  wretched 
village  of  Saripul  is  the  Calah  of  Asshur  and  the  Halah 
of  the  Israelitish  captivity,2  and  gave  to  the  surrounding 

1  The  Pashalik  of  Zohab,  now  Persian  territory,  is  fully  described  by 
Major  Rawlinson  in  a  most  interesting  paper  in  The  Journal  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society,  vol.  ix.  part  1,  p.  26. 

2  Gen.  x.  11  ;  2  Kings  xviii.  11  ;  1  Chron.  v.  26. 


LETTER  iv  THE  ALI-ILAHIS  85 

country  the  name  of  Chalonitis,  which  we  have  on  our 
old  maps.  A  metropolitan  See  in  the  fifth  century  A.D., 
soon  after  the  institution  of  the  Nestorian  hierarchy,  it 
was  called  Calah,  Halah,  and  Holwan.  If  the  Diyalah  be 
the  ancient  Gyndes,  noteworthy  for  the  singular  delay  of 
Cyrus  on  his  march  to  Babylon,  and  Saripul  the  ancient 
Holwan,  and  if  in  addition  to  the  numerous  Chaldsean 
and  Sasanian  remains  there  are  relics  of  Semiramis  and 
of  the  fire-temples  of  the  Magi,  the  crowd  of  historic 
associations  is  almost  too  much  for  one  day,  and  I  will 
return  to  the  insignificant  details  of  the  journey. 

We  left  at  nine,  crossed  the  Holwan  by  a  four-arched 
brick  bridge,  and  in  falling  snow  and  deep  mud  rode 
over  fairly  level  ground  till  we  came  to  an  abrupt  range 
of  limestone  rock,  with  a  natural  rift,  across  which  the 
foundations  of  a  wall  still  remain.  The  clouds  were 

i  rolling  low,  and  the  snow  was  driving  wildly,  so  as 
to  make  it  impossible  to  see  the  sculptured  tablet 
described  by  Eawlinson  and  Layard,  on  which  a  high- 
priest  of  the  Magi  is  represented,  with  one  hand  raised 
in  benediction,  and  the  other  grasping  a  scroll,  the  dress 
being  the  pontifical  robe  worn  by  the  Zoroastrian  priests, 
with  a  square  cap,  pointed  in  front,  and  lappets  covering 
the  mouth.  Above  this  is  a  tomb  with  an  ornamented 
entrance. 

We  were  now  among  a  very  strange  and  mysterious 
people,  of  whose  ancestry  and  actual  beliefs  very  little  is 
known.  They  are  Ali-Ilahis,  but  Europeans  often  speak 
of  them  as  "  Davidites,"  from  their  special  veneration  for 
King  David.  This  tomb  in  the  rift  is  called  Dukkani- 
Daoud,  or  David's  shop,  and  the  people  believe  that  he 
still  dwells  there,  and  come  on  pilgrimages  and  to  offer 
animals  in  sacrifice  from  all  parts  of  Kurdistan.  He  is 
believed  to  work  as  a  smith,  and  the  katirgis  say  that  he 
makes  suits  of  fine  armour.  A  part  of  the  tomb  which 


86  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  iv 

is  divided  from  the  rest  by  a  low  partition  is  believed  to 
be  a  reservoir  containing  the  water  which  he  uses  to 
temper  his  metal.  A  great  mound  with  some  building 
in  the  centre,  on  the  right  of  the  road  near  this  gorge, 
though  properly  it  bears  another  name,  is  called  by  the 
people  "David's  Fort."  Jewish  traditions  abound,  specially 
concerning  David,  who  is  regarded  by  the  tribes  as  their 
great  tutelar  prophet. 

The  Gurans  and  Kalhurs,  who  are  the  nomadic 
inhabitants  of  this  district,  are  of  a  very  marked  type  of 
physiognomy,  so  Israelitish  indeed  that,  taken  along  with 
certain  traditions  of  their  origin,  their  Jewish  names,  and 
their  veneration  for  David,  they  have  been  put  forward 
as  claimants  to  the  dignity  of  being  the  "  lost  tribes." 
The  great  Hebrew  traveller  of  the  twelfth  century,  to 
whom  I  have  referred  before,  believed  that  the  whole  of 
the  Ali-Ilahis  were  Jews,  and  writes  of  100  synagogues 
in  the  Zagros  mountains,  and  of  50,000  Jewish  families 
in  the  neighbourhood. 

As  we  shall  be  for  some  days  among  these  people,  I 
will  abbreviate  Sir  H.  Eawlinson's  sketch  of  their  tenets. 
He  considers  that  Ali-Ilahism  bears  evident  marks  of 
Judaism,  mixed  up  with  Moslem,  Christian,  and  Sabaean 
legends.  The  Ali-Ilahis  believe  in  1001  incarnations  of 
the  Godhead  in  a  series;  among  them  Benjamin,  Moses, 
Elias,  David,  Jesus  Christ,  Ali  and  Salman  his  tutor,  the 
Imam  Houssein  and  the  Haftan  (or  seven  bodies),  the 
chief  spiritual  guides  in  the  early  ages  of  Islam,  "  and 
each,  worshipped  as  a  Deity,  is  an  object  of  adoration 
in  some  locality  of  Kurdistan."  The  tomb  of  one  of 
these,  Baba  Yadgar,  is  their  holy  place,  and  this  was 
regarded  as  the  dwelling  of  Elijah  at  the  time  when  the 
Arabs  invaded  Persia.  All  these  incarnations  are  regarded 
as  of  one  and  the  same  person.  All  that  changes  is  the 
bodily  form  of  the  Divine  manifestation.  There  are 


LETTER  iv  THE  GATES  OF  ZAGROS  87 

degrees  in  the  perfection  of  the  development,  and  the 
most  perfect  forms  are  Benjamin,  David,  and  Ali. 

Practically,  however,  the  metaphysical  speculations 
involved  in  this  creed  of  successive  incarnations  are  un- 
known, and  the  Imam  Ali,  the  cousin  of  Mohammed,  is 
the  great  object  of  worship.  Though  professing  Moham- 
medanism the  Ali-Ilahis  are  held  in  great  horror  by  "  be- 
lievers," and  those  of  this  region  lie  under  the  stigma  of 
practising  unholy  rites  as  a  part  of  their  religion,  and  have 
received  the  name  of  "  Chiragh  Sonderan,"  the  putters-out 
of  lights.1  This  accusation,  Sir  A.  H.  Layard  observes, 
may  be  only  a  calumny  invented,  like  many  another,  to 
justify  persecution. 

Passing  through  the  rift  in  the  Dukkani-Daoud  range 
which  has  led  to  this  digression,  we  entered  an  ascend- 
ing valley  between  the  range  through  which  we  had 
passed  and  some  wild  mountains  covered  with  snow, 
which  were  then  actively  engaged  in  brewing  a  storm. 
Farther  on  there  was  irrigation  and  cultivation,  and  then 
the  wretched  village  of  Pai  Tak,  and  the  ruins  of  a  bridge. 
There,  the  people  told  us,  we  must  halt,  as  the  caravan- 
serai at  the  next  place  was  already  full,  and  we  plunged 
about  in  the  snow  and  mud  looking  for  a  hovel  in  which  to 
take  shelter,  but  decided  to  risk  going  on,  and  shortly  began 
the  ascent  of  the  remarkable  pass  known  as  "  The  Gates 
of  Zagros,"  on  the  ancient  highway  between  Babylonia 
and  Media,  by  which,  in  a  few  hours,  the  mountain 
barrier  of  Zagros  is  crossed,  and  the  plain  of  Kirrind,,  a 
part  of  the  great  Iranian  plateau,  is  reached. 

This  great  road,  which  zigzags  steeply  up  the  pass,  is 
partly  composed  of  smoothed  boulders  and  partly  of 
natural  rock,  somewhat  dressed,  and  much  worn  by  the 
continual  passage  of  shod  animals.  It  is  said  to  be  much 
like  a  torrent  bed,  but  the  snow  was  lying  heavily  upon 

1  See  Sir  A.  H.  Layard's  Early  Adventures,  vol.  i.  p.  217. 


88  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  iv 

it,  filling  up  its  inequalities.  Dwarf  oaks,  hawthorn,  ash, 
and  other  scrub  find  root -hold  in  every  crevice.  All 
that  may  be  ugly  was  draped  in  pure  white,  and  looking 
back  from  the  surrounding  glitter,  the  view  of  low  ranges 
lying  in  indigo  gloom  was  very  striking.  On  the  ascent 
there  is  a  remarkable  arch  of  great  blocks  of  white 
marble,  with  a  vaulted  recess,  called  the  "  Tak-i-Girreh," 
"  the  arch  holding  the  road,"  which  gives  the  popular 
name  of  Gardan-i-Tak-i-Girreh  (the  pass  of  Tak-i-Girreh) 
to  the  ascent,  though  the  geographers  call  it  Akabah-i- 
Holwan  (the  defile  of  Holwan). 

After  the  deep  mud  of  the  earlier  part  of  the  march  it 
was  a  pleasure  to  ride  through  pure,  deep,  powdery  snow, 
and  to  find  the  dirt  of  the  village  of  Myan  Tak,  a  Kurd- 
ish hamlet  situated  on  a  mountain  torrent  among  steep 
hills  and  small  trees,  covered  with  this  radiant  mantle. 
The  elevation  of  the  pass  is  4630  feet,  but  Myan  Tak  is 
at  a  lower  altitude  an  hour  farther  on. 

The  small  and  ruinous  caravanserai  was  really  full  of 
caravans  detained  by  the  snowstorm,  and  we  lodged  in 
a  Kurdish  house,  typical  of  the  style  of  architecture 
common  among  the  settled  tribes.  Within  a  wide  door- 
way without  a  door,  high  enough  for  a  loaded  mule  to 
enter,  is  a  very  large  room,  with  a  low,  flat  mud  roof, 
supported  on  three  rows  of  misshapen  trunks  of  trees, 
with  their  branches  cut  off  about  a  foot  from  the  stem, 
all  black  and  shiny  with  smoke.  Mud  and  rubble 
platforms,  two  feet  high,  run  along  one  side  and  one 
end,  and  on  the  end  one  there  is  a  clay,  beehive- 
shaped  fireplace,  but  no  chimney.  Under  this  platform 
the  many  fowls  are  shut  in  at  night  by  a  stone  at  the 
hole  by  which  they  enter.  Within  this  room  is  a  per- 
fectly dark  stable  of  great  size.  Certainly  forty  mules, 
besides  asses  and  oxen,  were  lodged  in  it,  and  the  over- 
flow shared  the  living-room  with  a  number  of  Kurds, 


•  LETTER  IT  A  KURDISH  DWELLING  89 

katirgis,  servants,  dogs,  soldiers,  and  Europeans.  The 
furniture  consisted  of  guns  and  swords  hanging  on  the 
walls. 

The  owner  is  an  old  Kurd  with  some  handsome  sons 
with  ruddy  complexions  and  auburn  hair.  The  hig  house 
is  the  patriarchal  roof,  where  the  patriarch,  his  sons, 
their  wives  and  children,  and  their  animals,  dwell 
together.  The  women,  however,  had  all  been  got  rid  of 
somehow.  The  old  Kurd  made  a  great  fire  on  the  dais, 
wood  being  plentiful,  and  crouched  over  it  My  bed 
was  pitched  near  it,  and  enclosed  by  some  reed  screens. 
With  chairs  and  a  table,  with  routes,  maps,  writing 
materials,  and  a  good  lantern  upon  it,  an  excellent 
dinner  of  soup  and  a  leg  of  mutton,  cooked  at  a  bonfire 
in  the  middle  of  the  floor,  and  the  sight  of  all  the 
servants  and  katirffis  lying  round  it,  warm  and  comfort- 
able, and  the  knowledge  that  we  were  above  the  mud, 
the  clouds  of  blinding  smoke  which  were  the  only  draw- 
back scarcely  affected  the  cheerfulness  and  comfort  of 
the  blazing,  unstinted  fire.  The  doorway  gave  not  only 
ample  ventilation  but  a  brilliant  view  of  snow,  and  of 
myriads  of  frosty  stars. 

It  was  infinitely  picturesque,  with  the  fitful  firelight 
falling  on  the  uncouth  avenues  of  blackened  tree-stumps, 
*on  big  dogs,  on  mild-eyed  ox  faces  and  long  ass  ears,  on 
turbaned  Indian  heads,  and  on  a  confused  crowd  of  Turks, 
Kurds,  and  Persians,  some  cooking,  some  sleeping,  some 
smoking,  while  from  the  black  depth  beyond  a  startling 
bray  of  an  ass  or  the  abortive  shriek  of  a  mule  occasion- 
ally proceeded,  or  a  stray  mule  created  a  commotion  by 
rushing  in  from  the  snow  outside. 

I  slept  comfortably,  till  I  was  awakened  early  by 
various  country  sounds — the  braying  of  an  ass  into  my 
ear  (for  I  was  within  a  few  inches  of  the  stable),  the 
crowing  of  cocks,  and  some  hens  picking  up  crumbs  upon 


90  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  iv 

my  bed.  The  mules  were  loaded  in  the  living-room. 
The  mercury  was  only  26°  at  9  A.M.,  and  under  cloud- 
less sunshine  the  powdery  snow  glittered  and  crackled. 
There  were  difficulties  ahead,  we  heard.  The  road 
heavily  blocked  with  snow  was  only  just  open,  and  the 
Persian  post,  which  should  have  passed  forty-eight  hours 
before,  had  not  been  heard  of,  showing  that  the  snow  is 
very  deep  farther  on. 

It  was  beautiful,  that  uplifted,  silent  world  of  snow 
and  mountains,  on  whose  skirts  for  some  miles  grew  small 
apple  and  pear  trees,  oak,  ash,  and  hawthorn,  each  twig  a 
coral  spray.  In  the  deepest  depression,  among  great 
rocks,  now  masses  of  snow,  tumbles  a  now  partially 
arrested  stream,  gleaming  with  icicles,  one  of  the  head- 
waters of  the  Holwan.  After  getting  through  this 
picturesque  forest  of  scrub,  the  road  emerges  on  the 
plateau  of  the  Kirrind  valley,  the  greatest  altitude  of 
which  is  about  5800  feet.  It  is  said  to  be  irrigated  and 
fertile.  It  is  now,  as  I  describe  it,  a  wide  valley,  with- 
out a  tree  or  bush,  a  rolling  plain  of  snow  from  two  to 
three  feet  deep,  marked  only  by  lines  made  by  birds'  feet 
and  the  beating  of  the  tips  of  birds'  wings,  the  track  across 
it  a  corrugated  trench,  wide  enough  for  one  mule,  the  sun 
brilliant,  the  sky  blue,  the  surface  of  the  snow  flashing 
light  from  millions  of  crystals  with  a  glitter  not  to  be 
borne,  all  dazzling,  "  glistering,"  silent, — a  white  world 
and  a  blue  heaven,  with  a  sun  "  shining  in  his  strength," 
— light  without  heat. 

It  has  been  a  tremendous  day's  march,  only  fourteen 
miles  in  seven  and  a  half  hours  of  severe  toil !  The 
katirgis  asked  us  to  keep  together  in  case  of  difficulties 
with  caravans.  Difficulties  indeed !  A  mild  term !  I 
was  nearly  smashed.  I  little  knew  what  meeting  a 
caravan  in  these  circumstances  meant  till  we  met  the 
first  sixty  animals,  each  laden  with  two  heavy  packing- 


LETTER  iv  CARAVANS  IN  COLLISION  91 

cases.  The  question  arises  who  is  to  give  way,  and  who 
is  to  drive  his  heavily- laden  beasts  off  the  track,  to 
struggle,  flounder,  and  fall  in  three  feet  of  snow,  not  to 
get  up  again  without  being  unloaded,  and  even  then 
with  difficulty. 

The  rub  came  on  a  bank  near  a  stream  where  there 
was  a  deep  drift.  I  decided  to  give  way,  but  nothing 
would  induce  my  mule  to  face  the  snow.  An  orderly 
was  in  front  and  Hadji  behind.  Down  the  track  came 
sixty  animals,  loaded  with  their  great  packing-cases. 
They  could  not  and  would  not  give  way,  and  the  two 
caravans  came  into  collision.  There  were  mules 
struggling  and  falling,  loads  overturned,  muleteers  yell- 
ing and  roaring,  Hadji  groaning  "  God  help  us  ! "  my  mule, 
a  new  one,  a  big  strong  animal,  unused  to  a  bit,  plunging 
and  kicking,  in  the  middle  of  a  "  free  fight."  I  was 
struck  hard  on  my  ankle  by  a  packing-case  and  nearly 
knocked  off.  Still,  down  they  came,  in  apparently 
endless  hordes ;  my  mule  plunged  her  bridle  off,  and 
kicked  most  violently ;  there  were  yells  all  round.  My 
snow  spectacles  were  knocked  off  and  lost,  then  came 
another  smash,  in  which  I  thought  a  bone  was  broken. 
Fearing  that  I  should  be  laid  up  with  a  broken  limb  for 
weeks  in  some  horrible  caravanserai,  and  really  desperate 
with  the  danger  and  confusion,  I  called  over  and  over 
again  to  Hadji  to  get  off  and  pull  my  mule  into  the  snow 
or  I  should  be  killed  !  He  did  not  stir,  but  sat  dazed  on 
his  pack  moaning  "  God  help  us  ! "  till  he,  the  mule,  and 
the  load  were  rolled  over  in  the  drift.  The  orderly  con- 
trived to  get  the  bridle  on  my  mule,  and  to  back  his 
own  in  front  of  me,  and  as  each  irrepressible  animal 
rolled  down  the  bank  he  gave  its  load  a  push,  which,  nicely 
balanced  as  these  loads  are,  made  it  swerve,  and  saved 
me  from  further  damage.  Hadji  had  rolled  off  four  times 
previously,  and  the  last  I  saw  of  him  at  that  time  and 


92  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  iv 

of  the  caravan  was  a  man,  five  mules,  and  their  loads 
buried  in  the  snow.  The  personal  results  to  me  of  what 
is  euphemistically  called  a  "  difficulty ,"  are  my  blue 
glasses  gone,  a  number  of  bruises,  a  badly-torn  riding- 
skirt,  and  a  bad  cut,  which  bled  profusely,  and  then  the 
blood  froze. 

A  number  of  caravans  snowed  up  for  several  days 
were  en  route,  and  there  were  many  similar  encounters, 
and  donkeys  and  mules  falling  with  their  loads  and 
rolling  into  the  deep  snow,  and  katirgis  coming  to  blows 
over  the  right-of-way.  If  a  donkey  is  forced  off  the 
track  it  goes  down  at  once.  I  unfortunately  caught  my 
foot  in  the  pack  of  one  and  rolled  it  over,  and  as  it  dis- 
appeared in  the  snow  its  pack  and  saddle  fell  over  its 
head  and  displayed  the  naked  vertebrse  of  its  poor  back. 

This  Kirrind  valley  must  be  fully  twenty  miles  long  by 
from  two  to  five  broad,  but  there  was  only  one  village 
inhabited  and  two  in  ruins.  As  we  floundered  along  in 
the  snow  with  our  jaded  animals,  two  well-armed  men  on 
fine  horses  met  and  joined  us,  sent  by  the  Agha  Abdul 
Eahim,  son  of  the  British  agent  at  Kirmanshah,  whose 
guests  we  are  to  be.  Following  them  was  a  taktrawan 
or  litter  for  me,  a  wooden  box  with  two  side  doors,  four 
feet  high,  six  feet  long,  and  three  feet  wide.  At  each  end 
are  long  shafts,  and  between  each  pair  of  shafts  a  superb 
mule,  and  each  mule  has  a  man  to  lead  him.  I  could 
never  use  such  a  thing  except  in  case  of  a  broken  limb, 
but  I  am  very  grateful  to  Abdul  Rahim  for  sending  it 
fifty-six  miles. 

The  temperature  fell  with  the  sun ;  the  snowy  hills 
took  on  every  shade  of  rose  and  pink,  and  in  a  universal 
blush  of  tender  colouring  we  reached  Kirrind.  All  of  a 
sudden  the  colour  died  out,  the  rose-flushed  sky  changed 
to  blue -gray,  and  pallid  wastes  of  unbroken  snow 
stretching  into  the  gray  distance  made  a  glorious  winter 


LETTER  IV  KIREIND  93 

landscape.  We  are  now  fairly  in  for  the  rigours  of  a 
Persian  winter. 

Kirrind,  the  capital  of  the  Kirrind  Kurds,  is  either 
grotesquely  or  picturesquely  situated  in  and  around  a 
narrow  gap  in  a  range  of  lofty  hills,  through  which  the 
Ab-i-Kirrind  rushes,  after  rising  in  a  spring  immediately 
behind.  The  gap  suggests  the  word  jaws,  and  in  these 
open  jaws  rise  one  above  another  flat-roofed  houses 
straggling  down  upon  the  plain  among  vineyards,  poplars, 
willows,  fruit-trees,  and  immense  walnuts  and  gardens. 
There  are  said  to  be  900  houses,  but  many  of  them  are 
ruinous.  The  stream  which  bursts  from  the  hills  is 
divided  into  innumerable  streamlets,  which  must  clothe 
these  gardens  with  beauty. 

A  fardsh  riding  on  ahead  had  engaged  a  house,  so 
we  avoided  the  horrors  of  the  immense  caravanserai, 
crammed  to-night  with  storm -bound  caravans.  The 
house  is  rough,  but  has  three  adjoining  rooms,  and  the 
servants  are  comfortable.  A  fire,  with  its  usual  accom- 
paniment of  stinging  smoke,  fails  to  raise  the  temperature 
of  my  room  to  the  freezing-point,  yet  it  is  quite  possible 
to  be  comfortable  and  employ  oneself. 

Mahidasht,  Jan.  %4- — My  room  at  Kirrind  was  very 
cold.  The  ink  froze.  The  mercury  fell  to  2°  below 
zero  in  it,  and  outside  in  the  sun  was  only  14°  at  8.30. 
There  was  a  great  Babel  at  starting.  Some  men  had  sold 
four  chickens  for  the  high  price  of  2s.  each,  the  current 
price  being  6d.,  and  had  robbed  the  servants  of  two,  and 
they  took  one  of  the  mules,  which  was  sent  after  us  by 
an  official.  Slipping,  floundering,  and  falling  in  the  deep 
snow,  and  getting  entangled  among  caravans,  we  rode 
all  day  over  rolling  levels.  The  distance  seemed  inter- 
minable over  the  glittering  plains,  and  the  pain  and 
stiffness  produced  by  the  intense  cold  were  hard  to  bear, 
and  it  was  not  possible  to  change  the  cramped  position  by 


94  JOUKNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  iv 

walking.  The  mercury  fell  to  4°,  as  with  tired  animals 
we  toiled  up  the  slope  on  which  Harunabad  stands. 

A  very  large  caravanserai  and  a  village  of  sixty  houses 
occupy  the  site  of  a  town  built  by  Harun-al-Easchid  on 
the  upper  waters  of  the  Kerkhah.  It  has  the  reputation 
of  being  one  of  the  coldest  places  in  Persia,  so  cold  that 
its  Ilyat  inhabitants  desert  it  in  winter,  leaving  two  or 
three  men  who  make  a  business  of  supplying  caravans. 
Usually  people  come  out  of  the  villages  in  numbers  as 
we  arrive,  but  we  passed  group  after  group  of  ruinous 
hovels  without  seeing  a  creature.  We  obtained  awfully 
cold  rooms  at  a  great  height  above  a  bazar,  now  deserted. 
I  write  "  awfully  "  advisedly,  for  the  mercury  in  them  at 
sunset  was  2°  below  zero,  the  floors  were  plaster,  slippery 
with  frozen  moisture,  the  walls  were  partly  wood,  with 
great  apertures  between  the  planks ;  where  they  were  mud 
the  blistered  plaster  was  fringed  with  icicles.  Later  the 
mercury  sank  to  12°,  and  before  morning  to  16°  below 
zero,  and  the  hot  water  froze  in  my  basin  before  I  could 
use  it ! 

We  were  to  have  started  at  eight,  as  there  was  no 
possible  way  of  dividing  the  nine  hours'  march,  but  when 
the  time  came  the  katirgis  said  it  was  too  cold  to  rope 
the  loads,  a  little  later  that  we  could  only  get  half-way, 
and  later  that  there  was  no  accommodation  for  mules 
half-way  and  that  we  must  go  the  whole  way !  At  nine 
the  mercury  was  at  4°  below  zero,  and  the  slipperiness 
was  fearful.  The  poor  animals  could  scarcely  keep  on' 
their  feet.  We  have  crossed  two  high  passes,  Nal 
Shikan  (the  Horse-Shoe  breaking  pass)  and  the  Charzabar 
Pass,  in  tremendous  snow,  riding  nine  hours,  only  dis- 
mounting to  walk  down  one  hill.  At  the  half-way 
hamlet  I  decided  to  go  on,  having  still  a  lingering  pre- 
judice against  sharing  a  den  with  a  quantity  of  human 
beings,  mules,  asses,  poultry,  and  dogs. 


LETTER  iv  THE  PLAIN  OF  MAHIDASHT  95 

On  one  long  ascent  we  encountered  a  "  blizzard," 
when  the  mercury  was  only  3°  above  zero.  It  was  awful. 
The  men  covered  their  heads  with  their  abbas  and  turned 
their  backs  to  the  wind.  I  got  my  heavy  mackintosh 
over  everything,  but  in  taking  off  three  pairs  of  gloves 
for  one  minute  to  button  it  the  pain  of  my  hand  was 
literally  excruciating.  At  the  summit  the  snow  was  four 
feet  deep,  and  a  number  of  mules  were  down,  but  after 
getting  over  the  crest  of  the  Nal  Shikan  Pass  and  into 
the  Zobeideh  valley  it  became  better.  But  after  every 
descent  there  was  another  ascent  to  face  till  we  reached 
the  pass  above  the  Cheshmeh-i-Charzabar  torrent,  in  a 
picturesque  glen,  with  a  village  and  some  primitive  flour 
mills. 

Below  this  height  lies  the  vast  and  fertile  plain  of 
Mahidasht,  one  expanse  of  snow,  broken  by  mud  villages 
looking  like  brown  islands,  and  the  truncated  cone  of 
Goree,  a  seat  of  the  ancient  fire-worship.  In  the  centre 
of  the  plain  is  an  immense  caravanserai  with  some  houses 
about  it.  When  this  came  into  sight  it  was  only  five 
miles  off,  but  we  were  nearly  three  hours  in  reaching  it ! 
The  view  was  wonderful.  Every  speck  on  the  vast  plain 
was  seen  distinctly;  then  came  a  heavy  snow  blink, 
above  which  hovered  ghosts  of  snow  mountains  rising 
into  a  pale  green  sky,  a  dead  and  lonely  wilderness, 
looking  as  if  all  things  which  lived  and  moved  had  long 
ago  vanished  from  it.  Those  hours  after  first  sighting 
the  village  were  very  severe.  It  seemed  to  grow  no 
nearer.  I  was  half-dead  with  the  journey  of  twenty-two 
miles  at  a  slow  foot's  pace,  and  was  aching  and  cramped 
from  the  intense  cold,  for  as  twilight  fell  the  mercury 
sank  to  3°  below  zero.  The  Indian  servants,  I  believe, 
suffered  more  than  I  did,  and  some  of  the  katirgis  even 
more  than  they. 

At  last  by  a   pointed  brick  bridge  we   crossed   the 


96  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  iv 

little  river  of  Mahidasht,  and  rode  into  the  house  of 
the  headman,  who  is  a  sort  of  steward  of  Abdul 
Rahim,  our  future  host,  the  owner  of  many  villages  on 
this  plain.  The  house  is  of  the  better  class  of 
Kurdish  houses,  with  a  broad  passage,  and  a  room  on 
each  side,  at  the  end  a  great,  low,  dark  room,  half  living- 
room,  half  stable,  which  accommodates  to-night  some  of  the 
mules,  the  muleteers,  the  servants,  and  the  men  of  the 
family.  Beyond  this  again  is  a  large  stable,  and  below- 
ground,  reached  by  a  sloping  tunnel,  is  the  sheep-fold. 
One  room  has  neither  door  nor  window,  mine  has  an 
outer  and  inner  door,  and  a  fire  of  live  embers  in  a  hole 
in  the  floor. 

The  family  in  vacating  the  room  have  left  their  goods 
behind, — two  plank  beds  at  one  end  heaped  with  carpets 
and  felts,  a  sacking  cradle  hanging  from  the  roof,  two 
clay  jars  five  feet  high  for  storing  grain,  and  in  the 
takchahs,  or  recesses  of  the  walls,  samovars  or  tea-urns, 
pots,  metal  vases,  cartridge  belts,  and  odds  and  ends. 
Two  old  guns,  an  old  sword,  and  a  coarse  coloured  print 
of  the  Russian  Imperial  family  are  on  the  wall. 

I  was  lifted  from  the  mule  to  my  bed,  covered 
with  all  available  wraps,  a  pot  of  hot  embers  put  by 
the  bed,  my  hands  and  feet  rubbed,  hot  syrup  coloured 
with  tea  produced  in  Eussian  glasses,  and  in  two 
hours  I  was  able  to  move.  The  caravan,  which  we 
thought  could  not  get  through  the  snow,  came  in  three 
hours  later,  men  and  mules  thoroughly  knocked  up,  and 
not  till  nine  could  we  get  a  scanty  dinner.  It  has  been 
a  hard  day  all  round.  The  farashes  in  the  kitchen  are 
cursing  the  English  sahibs,  who  will  travel  in  the  winter, 
wishing  our  fathers  may  be  burned,  etc.,  two  of  the 
muleteers  have  been  howling  with  pain  for  the  last  two 
hours,  and  - 1  went  into  the  kitchen  to  see  the  poor 
fellows. 


LETTER  iv  THE  PLAIN  OF  MAHIDASHT  97 

In  a  corner  of  the  big  room,  among  the  rough  trunks 
of  trees  which  support  the  sooty  roof,  the  muleteers  were 
lying  in  a  heap  in  their  big -sleeved  felt  coats  round  a 
big  fire,  about  another  the  servants  were  cooking  their 
food,  the  fardshes  were  lying  round  another,  and  some  of 
the  house  people  about  a  fourth,  and  through  smoke  and 
flame  a  background  of  mules  and  wolf-like  dogs  was  dimly 
seen,  a  gleam  now  and  then  falling  into  the  dark  stable 
beyond,  where  the  jaded  baggage  animals  were  lying  in 
heaps. 

Mahidasht  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  finest  and  most  fertile 
plains  in  Persia,  seventy-two  miles  long  by  fifteen  broad, 
and  is  irrigated  throughout  by  a  small  stream  swarming 
with  turtles.  Its  population,  scattered  over  it  in  small 
villages,  is  estimated  —  over-estimated  probably  —  at 
4000.  At  a  height  of  5050  feet  the  winters  are  severe. 
The  snow  is  nearly  three  feet  deep  already,  and  more  is 
impending. 

The  mercury  in  my  room  fell  to  5°  below  zero  before 
midnight,  but  rose  for  a  gray  cloudy  day.  The  men  and 
animals  were  so  done  up  that  we  could  not  start  till 
nearly  eleven.  The  march,  though  not  more  than  sixteen 
miles,  was  severe,  owing  to  the  deep  snow  and  cold  wind. 
Five  miles  over  the  snowy  billows  of  the  Mahidasht 
plain,  a  long  ascent,  on  which  the  strong  north  wind  was 
scarcely  bearable,  a  succession  of  steep  and  tiresome 
ridges,  many  "  difficulties  "  in  passing  caravans,  and  then 
a  gradual  descent  down  a  long  wide  valley,  opened  upon 
the  high  plateau,  on  which  Kirmanshah,  one  of  the  most 
important  cities  in  Persia,  is  situated. 

Trees,  bare  and  gaunt,  chiefly  poplars,  rising  out  of 
unsullied  snow,  for  two  hours  before  we  reached  it, 
denoted  the  whereabouts  of  the  city,  which  after  many 
disappointments  bursts  upon  one  suddenly.  The  view 
from  the  hill  above  the  town  was  the  most  glorious  snow 
VOL.  i  H 


98  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  iv 

view  I  ever  saw.  All  around,  rolled  to  a  great  height, 
smooth  as  the  icing  of  a  cake,  hills,  billowy  like  the 
swell  of  the  Pacific  after  a  storm — an  ocean  of  snow  ; 
below  them  a  plateau  equally  unsullied,  on  the  east  side  of 
which  rises  the  magnificently  precipitous  Besitun  range, 
sublime  in  its  wintry  grandeur,  while  on  the  distant  side 
of  the  plateau  pink  peaks  raised  by  an  atmospheric 
illusion  to  a  colossal  height  hovered  above  the  snow 
blink,  and  walled  in  the  picture.  Snow  was  in  the  air, 
snow  clouds  were  darkening  over  the  Besitun  range ; 
except  for  those  pink  peaks  there  were  no  atmospheric 
effects ;  the  white  was  very  pallid,  and  the  gray  was  very 
black ;  no  illusions  were  possible,  the  aspect  was  grim, 
desolate,  and  ominous,  and  even  before  we  reached  the 
foot  of  the  descent  the  huge  peaks  and  rock  masses  of 
Besitun  were  blotted  out  by  swirls  of  snow. 

Kirmanshah,  approached  from  the  south-west,  added  no 
elements  of  picturesqueness  to  the  effect.  A  ruinous  wall 
much  too  large  for  the  shrunken  city  it  encloses,  parts  of 
it  lying  in  the  moat,  some  ruinous  loopholed  towers,  lines 
of  small  domes  denoting  bazars  below,  a  few  good-look- 
ing houses  rising  above  the  insignificant  mass,  gardens, 
orchards,  vineyards,  and  poplars  stretching  up  the  southerly 
hollow  behind,  and  gardens,  now  under  frozen  water,  to 
the  north,  made  up  a  not  very  interesting  contrast  with  the 
magnificence  of  nature. 

We  circled  much  of  the  ruinous  wall  on  thin  ice, 
turned  in  between  high  walls  and  up  an  alley  cumbered 
with  snow,  dismounted  at  a  low  door,  were  received  by  a 
number  of  servants,  and  were  conducted  through  a  frozen 
courtyard  into  a  handsomely-carpeted  room  with  divans 
beside  a  blazing  fire,  a  table  in  the  centre  covered  with 
apples,  oranges,  and  sweetmeats,  and  the  large  Jubilee 
photograph  of  Queen  Victoria  hanging  over  the  fire- 
place. I.  L.  B. 


LETTER  v  HADJI  KHALIL  99 


LETTEE    V 

KIRMANSHAH,  Jan,  81. 

THIS  hospitable  house  is  the  residence  of  the  British 
Agent  or  Vakil  for  Kirmanshah,  in  whose  absence  at 
Tihran,  his  son,  Abdul  Eahim,  performs  the  duties  of 
hospitality  in  a  most  charming  manner,  as  if  though  a 
very  busy  man  he  had  nothing  else  to  do  but  carry  out 
the  wishes  of  his  guests.  His  hospitality  is  most  unob- 
trusive also,  and  considerate.  If  such  a  wish  is  expressed 
as  to  visit  the  sculptures  of  the  Takt-i-Bostan,  or  anything 
else,  everything  is  quietly  and  beautifully  arranged  ;  a 
landau-and-four  with  outriders,  superb  led  saddle-horses, 
and  arrangements  for  coffee  are  ready  outside  the  walls, 
with  the  host  as  cicerone,  ready  to  drive  or  ride  at  the 
pleasure  of  his  guests.  The  rooms  in  which  he  receives 
Europeans  are  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  courtyard  from 
the  house,  and  have  been  arranged  according  to  European 
ideas. 

The  family  history,  as  usually  told,  is  an  interesting 
one.  They  are  Arabs,  and  the  grandfather  of  our  host, 
Hadji  Khalil,  was  a  trusted  Tcatirgi  in  the  employment  of 
Sir  Henry  Eawlinson,  and  saved  his  life  when  he  fell 
from  a  scaffolding  while  copying  the  Besitun  inscriptions. 
His  good  qualities,  and  an  honesty  of  character  and 
purpose  rare  among  Orientals,  eventually  placed  him  in  the 
important  position  of  British  Vakil  here,  and  he  became  a 
British  subject,  and  was  succeeded  in  his  position  by  his 


100  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  v 

son,  Agha  Hassan,  who  is  now  by  virtue  of  singular 
business  capacities  the  wealthiest  man  in  this  province 
and  possibly  in  Persia,  and  bears  the  very  highest  char- 
acter for  trustworthiness  and  honour.1 

Abdul  Rahim  is  a  very  fine-looking  man,  with  noticeable 
eyes,  very  large  and  prominent.  He  has  a  strong  sense 
of  humour,  which  flits  over  his  face  in  an  amused  smile. 
He  and  his  father  are  very  large  landowners,  and  are 
always  adding  land  to  land,  and  are  now  the  owners  of 
the  magnificent  sculptures  and  pleasure-grounds  of  the 
Takt-i-Bostan.  They  are  bankers  likewise,  and  money- 
lenders, merchants  on  a  large  scale,  and  have  built  a  very 
fine  caravanserai,  with  great  brick  warehouses  for  the  use 
of  traders.  Agha  Hassan  travels  en  prince,  driving  to 
Tihran  and  back  in  an  English  landau  with  four  horses 
and  a  number  of  outriders  and  attendants,  and  his  son 
entertains  visitors  in  the  same  way,  mounting  even  the 
outriders  and  pipe-bearers  on  well-bred  Arabs.  When 
he  walks  in  the  city  it  is  like  a  royal  progress.  Every- 
body bows  low,  nearly  to  the  ground,  and  his  purse- 
bearer  follows,  distributing  alms  among  the  poor. 

I  mention  all  this  because  it  is  a  marvel  in  Persia, 
where  a  reputation  for  wealth  is  the  last  thing  a  rich 
man  desires.  To  elevate  a  gateway  or  to  give  any 
external  sign  of  affluence  is  to  make  himself  a  mark  for 
the  official  rapacity  which  spares  none.  The  policy  is  to 
let  a  man  grow  quietly  rich,  to  "  let  the  sheep's  wool 
grow,"  but  as  soon  as  he  shows  any  enjoyment  of  wealth 

1  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Agha  Hassan  at  the  British  Legation  at 
Tihran.  He  is  charming,  both  in  appearance  and  manner,  a  specimen  of 
the  highest  type  of  Arab  good  breeding,  with  a  courteous  kindliness  and 
grace  of  manner,  and  is  said  to  have  made  a  very  favourable  impression 
when  he  went  to  England  lately  to  be  made  a  C.  M.  G.  Both  father  and 
son  wear  the  Arab  dress,  in  plain  colours  but  rich  materials,  with  very 
large  white  turbans  of  Damascus  embroidery  in  gold  silk,  and  speak  only 
Arabic  and  Persian. 


LETTER  v  KIRMANSHAH  101 

to  deprive  him  of  his  gains,  according  to  a  common 
Persian  expression,  "  He  is  ripe,  he  must  be  squeezed." 
The  Vakil  and  his  son  are  the  only  men  here  who  are 
not  afraid  to  show  their  wealth,  and  for  the  simple 
reason  that  it  cannot  be  touched,  because  they  are 
British  subjects.  They  can  neither  be  robbed,  squeezed, 
nor  mulcted  beyond  the  legitimate  taxation  by  Persian 
officials,  and  are  able  to  protect  the  property  of  others 
when  it  is  entrusted  to  their  keeping.  British  protection 
has  been  in  fact  the  making  of  these  men. 

The  manage  is  simple.  The  dining-room  is  across  the 
frozen  courtyard.  The  meals  are  served  in  European 
fashion,  the  major-domo  being  an  ancient  man,  "  born  in 
the  house,"  who  occasionally  inserts  a  remark  into  the 
conversation  or  helps  his  master's  memory.  The  inter- 
preter sits  on  the  floor  during  meals.  I  breakfast  in  my 
room,  but  lunch  and  dine  with  our  host,  who  spends 
the  evening  in  the  salon;  sherbet  is  provided  instead  of 
wine.  Abdul  Eahim  places  me  at  the  head  of  the 
table,  and  I  am  served  first !  The  interpreting  is  from 
Persian  into  Hindustani,  and  vice  versd.  Our  host 
expresses  almost  daily  regret  that  he  cannot  talk  with  me 
on  politics ! 

Kirmanshah,  which  is  said  to  be  a  favourable  speci- 
men of  a  Persian  town,  is  absolutely  hideous  and  unin- 
teresting. It  is  really  half  in  ruins.  It  has  suffered 
terribly  from  "  plague,  pestilence,  and  famine,"  and  from 
the  awful  rapacity  of  governors.  It  once  had  12,000 
houses,  but  the  highest  estimate  of  its  present  population 
is  25,000.  So  severely  have  the  town  and  province  been 
oppressed  that  some  years  ago  three-quarters  of  the 
inhabitants  migrated,  the  peasants  into  Turkey,  and  the 
townspeople  into  the  northern  province  of  Azerbijan. 
If  a  governor  pays  30,000  tumans  (£10,000)  to  the 
Shah  for  an  appointment,  of  which  he  may  be  deprived 


102  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  v 

any  day,  it  can  scarcely  be  expected  of  Oriental,  or 
indeed  of  any  human  nature,  that  he  will  not  make  a 
good  thing  of  it  while  he  has  it,  and  squeeze  all  he  can 
out  of  the  people. 

The  streets  are  very  narrow,  and  look  narrower  just 
now,  because  the  snow  is  heaped  almost  to  the  top  of  the 
mud  walls,  which  are  not  broken  up  as  in  Turkish  towns 
by  projecting  lattice  windows,  but  are  absolutely  blank, 
with  the  exception  of  low-arched  entrances  to  the  court- 
yards within,  closed  by  heavy,  unpainted  wooden  doors, 
studded  with  wooden  nails.  The  causeways,  on  which, 
but  for  the  heaps  of  slippery  snow  two  men  might  walk 
abreast,  have  a  ditch  two  or  three  feet  wide  between 
them,  which  is  the  roadway  for  animals.  There  are 
some  open  spaces,  abounding  in  ruinous  heaps,  others 
where  goods  are  unloaded,  surrounded  with  warehouses, 
immense  brick  bazars  with  domed  roofs,  a  citadel  or  ark, 
where  the  Governor  lives,  a  large  parade  ground  and 
barracks  for  2000  men,  mosques  of  no  pretensions, 
public  baths,  caravanserais,  brick  warehouses  behind  the 
bazars,  public  gardens,  with  fountains  and  avenues  of 
poplars,  a  prison,  and  some  good  houses  like  this  one, 
hidden  behind  high  mud  walls.  Although  the  snow 
kindly  veils  a  good  deal  of  deformity,  the  city  impresses 
one  as  ruinous  and  decayed  ;  yet  it  has  a  large  trade,  and 
is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  prosperous  places  in  the 
Empire.1 

The  bazars  are  spacious  and  well  stocked  with 
European  goods,  especially  with  Manchester  cottons  of 
colours  and  patterns  suited  to  Oriental  taste,  which 
loves  carnation  red.  There  are  many  Jews,  otherwise 
the  people  are  Shiah  Moslems,  with  an  increasing 
admixture  of  the  secret  sect  of  the  Babis.  In  some 

1  A  journey  of  nine  months  in  Persia,  chiefly  in  the  west  and  north-west, 
convinced  me  that  this  aspect  of  ruin  and  decay  is  universal. 


LETTER  v  MOSLEM  INTOLERANCE  103 

respects  the  Shiahs  are  more  fanatical  than  the  Sunnis, 
as,  for  instance,  it  is  quite  possible  to  visit  a  mosque  in 
Turkey,  but  here  a  Christian  is  not  allowed  to  cross  the 
threshold  of  the  outer  gate.  Certain  customs  are  also 
more  rigidly  observed.  A  Persian  woman  would  be  in 
danger  of  death  from  the  mob  if  she  appeared  unveiled 
in  the  streets.  When  I  walked  through  the  town, 
though  attended  by  a  number  of  men,  the  major-domo 
begged  me  to  exchange  my  gauze  veil  for  a  mask,  and 
even  when  I  showed  this  deference  to  custom  the 
passing  through  the  bazars  was  very  unpleasant,  the  men 
being  decidedly  rude,  and  inclined  to  hoot  and  use  bad 
language.  Even  the  touch  of  a  Christian  is  regarded  as 
polluting,  and  I  nearly  got  into  trouble  by  handling  a 
"  flap-jack,"  mistaking  it  for  a  piece  of  felt.  The  bazars 
are  not  magnificent.  No  rich  carpets  or  other  goods  are 
exposed  to  view  for  fear  of  exactions.  A  buyer  wanting 
such  things  must  send  word  privately,  and  have  them 
brought  to  his  house. 

Justice  seems  to  be  here,  much  as  in  Turkey,  a 
marketable  commodity,  which  the  working  classes  are 
too  poor  to  buy.  A  man  may  be  kept  in  prison  because 
he  is  too  poor  to  get  out,  but  justice  is  usually  summary, 
and  men  are  not  imprisoned  for  long  terms.  If  prisoners 
have  friends,  the  friends  feed  them,  if  not  they  depend 
on  charity,  and  charity  is  a  Moslem  virtue.  There  is  no 
prison  here  for  women.  They  are  punished  by  having 
their  heads  shaved,  and  by  being  taken  through  the 
town  on  asses.  Various  forms  of  torture  are  practised, 
such  as  burning  with  hot  irons,  the  bastinado,  and 
squeezing  the  fingers  in  a  vice.  The  bastinado  is  also 
most  extensively  used  as  a  punishment. 

Yesterday  by  appointment  we  were  received  by  the 
Governor  of  the  Province.  Riding  through  the  slippery 
snow-heaped  alleys  is  not  what  Europeans  would  think 


104  JOURNF.YS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  v 

of,  and  our  host  with  his  usual  courtesy  humoured  the 
caprice  by  walking  with  us  himself,  preceded  by  six 
farashes  (lit.  carpet-spreaders)  and  followed  by  his  purse- 
bearer  casting  money  to  the  poor,  and  a  train  of  servants. 
The  Citadel,  or  Governor's  residence,  like  all  else,  is 
forlorn,  dirty,  and  ruinous  in  .its  approaches,  which  are 
long  vaulted  corridors  capable  of  much  adornment. 
Crowds  of  soldiers,  mollahs,  dervishes,  and  others  were 
there  to  see  the  visit,  which  was  one  of  ceremony.  The 
Palace  and  Government  offices  are  many- windowed,  well- 
built  brick -and -tile  buildings,  arranged  round  a  large 
place  with  trees  and  fountains. 

Two  little  fellows  in  scarlet  uniform  were  at  the 
entrance,  and  the  lobby  upstairs  was  crowded  with 
Persian  and  Negro  servants,  all  in  high,  black  lambskin 
caps,  tight  black  trousers,  and  tight  coats  with  full 
skirts.  The  Governor  received  us  in  a  very  large,  lofty, 
vacant-looking  room,  and  shook  hands.  I  never  saw  a 
human  being  more  nearly  like  an  ape  in  appearance,  and 
a  loud  giggle  added  to  the  resemblance.  This  giggle  and 
a  fatuous  manner  are  possibly  assumed,  for  he  has  the 
widespread  reputation  of  being  a  very  able  man,  shrewd 
in  business  and  officially  rapacious,  as  was  his  father 
before  him.  The  grotesque  figure,  not  more  than  five 
feet  high,  was  dressed  in  a  black  Astrakan  cap,  a  coat  of 
fine  buff  Eussian  kerseymere  with  full  skirts,  and  tight 
trousers  of  the  same,  and  an  under-coat  of  rich,  Kerman 
silk  brocade,  edged  with  costly  fur.  He  made  a  few 
curt  remarks  to  his  foreign  guests,  and  then  turned  to 
Abdul  Ilahim,  and  discussed  local  affairs  for  the 
remainder  of  a  very  long  visit. 

A  table  covered  with  exquisite -looking  sweetmeats 
was  produced,  and  we  were  regaled  with  tea  a  la 
RuAse  in  Russian  glasses,  ice-cream,  and  gaz.  Then 
young,  diminutive,  raw-looking  soldiers  in  scarlet  coats 


LETTER  v  A  PROVINCIAL  GOVERNOR  105 

and  scarlet  trousers  with  blue  stripes  marched  into  the 
courtyard,  and  stood  disconsolately  in  the  snow,  and  two 
bands  brayed  and  shrieked  for  an  hour.  Then  kalians 
were  smoked,  and  coffee  was  handed  round,  the  cups 
being  in  gold  filigree  holders  incrusted  with  turquoises. 
This  was  the  welcome  signal  for  the  termination  of  a 
very  tedious  visit.  The  reception-room  is  a  dismal 
combination  of  Persian  and  European  taste,  invariably  a 
failure.  The  carpets  are  magnificent,  but  the  curtains 
are  common  serge  bordered  with  white  cotton  lace,  and 
the  tea-table  with  its  costly  equipments  was  covered 
with  a  tawdry  cretonne  cover,  edged  with  some  inferior 
black  cotton  lace.  The  lofty  walls  of  plain  plaster  of 
Paris  have  their  simplicity  destroyed  by  some  French 
girandoles  with  wax  grapes  hanging  from  them. 

The  Governor  returned  the  visit  to-day,  arriving  on 
horseback  with  fully  forty  mounted  attendants,  and  was 
received  in  a  glass  room  on  the  roof,  furnished  with 
divans,  tables  covered  with  beautiful  confectionery,  and 
tea  and  coffee  equipages.  The  conversation  was  as  local 
as  yesterday,  in  spite  of  our  host's  courteous  efforts  to 
include  the  strangers  in  it.  The  Governor  asked  if  I 
were  going  to  Tihran  to  be  Hakim  to  the  Shah's  haram, 
which  our  host  says  is  the  rumour  in  Kirmanshah ! 
During  such  visits  there  are  crowds  of  attendants  in  the 
room  all  the  time  pouring  out  tea,  filling  kalians,  and 
washing  cups  on  the  floor,  and  as  any  guest  may  be  a 
spy  and  an  enemy,  the  conversation  is  restricted  to 
exaggerated  compliments  and  superficial  remarks. 

Everything  is  regulated  by  an  elaborate  code  of 
etiquette,  even  the  compliments  are  meted  out  by  rule, 
and  to  give  a  man  more  than  he  is  entitled  to  is  under- 
stood to  be  intended  as  sarcasm.  The  number  of  bows 
made  by  the  entertainer,  the  distance  he  advances  to 
meet  his  guest,  and  the  position  in  which  he  seats  him 


106  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  v 

are  matters  of  careful  calculation,  and  the  slightest  mis- 
take in  any  particular  is  liable  to  be  greatly  resented  by 
a  superior. 

The  Persian  is  a  most  ceremonious  being.  Like  the 
Japanese  he  is  trained  from  infancy  to  the  etiquette  of 
his  class,  and  besides  the  etiquette  of  class  there  is  here 
the  etiquette  of  religion,  which  is  far  more  strict  than 
in  Turkey,  and  yields  only  when  there  is  daily  contact,  as 
in  the  capital,  between  Moslems  and  Christians.  Thus, 
a  Moslem  will  not  accept  refreshments  from  a  Christian, 
and  he  will  not  smoke  a  pipe  after  a  Christian  even  if 
he  is  his  guest,  and  of  equal  or  higher  rank. 

The  custom  is  for  a  visitor,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Governor,  to  announce  his  visit  previously,  and  he  and 
his  train  are  met,  when  he  is  the  superior,  by  a  mounted 
servant  of  the  recipient  of  the  honour,  who  precedes  him 
to  the  door,  where  the  servants  are  arranged  according  to 
their  rank,  and  the  host  waits  to  take  his  hand  and  lead 
him  to  a  seat.  On  entering  the  room  a  well-bred 
Persian  knows  at  once  what  place  he  ought  to  take,  and 
it  is  rare  for  such  a  fiasco  as  that  referred  to  in  Luke 
xiv.  9  to  occur.  Eefreshments  and  pipes  are  served  at 
regulated  intervals,  and  the  introduction  of  a  third  cup 
of ^ tea  or  coffee  and  a  third  kalian  is  the  signal  for  the 
guest  to  retire.  But  it  is  necessary  to  ask  and  receive 
permission  to  do  so,  and  elaborate  forms  of  speech 
regulated  by  the  rank  of  the  visitor  are  used  on  the 
occasion.  If  he  is  of  equal  or  superior  rank,  the  host, 
bowing  profoundly,  replies  that  he  can  have  no  other  wish 
than  that  of  his  guest,  that  the  house  has  been  purified  by 
his  presence,  that  the  announcement  of  the  visit  brought 
good  luck  to  the  house,  that  his  headache  or  toothache 
has  been  cured  by  his  arrival,  and  these  flowery  com- 
pliments escort  the  ordinary  guest  to  the  door,  but  if 
he  be  of  superior  rank  the  host  walks  in  advance  to 


LETTER  v  THE  ETIQUETTE  OF  PIPES  107 

the  foot  of  the  stairs,  and  repeats  the  compliments 
there. 

The  etiquette  concerning  pipes  is  most  elaborate.1 
Kalians  are  invariably  used  among  the  rich.  The  great 
man  brings  his  own,  and  his  own  pipe-bearer.  The 
kalian  is  a  water  pipe,  and  whatever  its  form  the 
principle  is  the  same,  the  smoke  being  conducted  to 
the  bottom  of  a  liberal  supply  of  water,  to  be  sucked  up 
in  bubbles  through  it  with  a  gurgling  noise,  as  in  the 
Indian  "  hubble-bubble."  This  water-holder  is  decanter- 
shaped,  of  plain  or  cut  glass,  with  a  wide  mouth ;  the 
fire-holder,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Governor's  pipe,  is  often 
a  work  of  high  art,  in  thin  gold,  chased,  engraved, 
decorated  with  rcpoussd  work,  or  incrusted  with  tur- 
quoises, or  ornamented  with  rich  enamel,  very  costly, 
£40  or  even  £50  being  paid  by  rich  men  for  the  decora- 
tion of  a  single  pipe-head.  Between  this  and  the  water- 
holder  is  a  wooden  tube  about  fourteen  inches  long,  from 
one  end  of  which  an  inner  tube  passes  to  the  bottom  of 
the  water.  A  hole  in  the  side  of  the  tube  admits  the 
flexible  smoking  tube,  more  used  in  Turkey  than  in 
Persia,  or  the  wooden  stem,  about  eighteen  inches  long. 
The  fire-holder  is  lined  with  clay  and  plaster  of  Paris. 
Besides  these  there  is  the  wind -guard,  to  prevent  the 
fire  from  falling  or  becoming  too  hot,  usually  of  silver, 
with  dependent  silver  chains,  and  four  or  six  silver  or 
gold  chains  terminating  in  flat  balls  hang  from  the  fire- 
holder. 

The  kalian  is  one  of  the  greatest  institutions  of 
Persia.  No  man  stirs  without  it,  and  as  its  decoration 
gives  an  idea  of  a  man's  social  position,  immense  sums 
are  lavished  upon  it,  and  the  pipe-bearer  is  a  most 
important  person.  The  lighting  is  troublesome,  and 

1  The  reader  curious  as  to  this  and  other  customs  of  modern  Persia 
should  read  Dr.  Wills's  book,  The  Land  of  the  Lion  and  the  Sun. 


108  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  v 

after  all  there  seems  "  much  ado  about  nothing,"  for  a 
few  whiffs  exhaust  its  capacities. 

The  tobacco,  called  tumbaku,  which  is  smoked  in 
kalians  is  exceptionally  poisonous.  It  cannot  be  used 
the  first  year,  and  improves  with  age,  being  preserved 
in  bags  sewn  up  in  raw  hide.  Unless  it  is  moistened  it 
produces  alarming  vertigo.  When  the  kalian  is  required, 
about  three-quarters  of  an  ounce  is  moistened,  squeezed 
like  a  sponge,  and  packed  in  the  fire-holder,  and  morsels 
of  live  charcoal,  if  possible  made  from  the  root  of  the 
vine,  are  laid  upon  it  and  blown  into  a  strong  flame. 
The  pipe-bearer  takes  two  or  three  draws,  and  with  an 
obeisance  hands  it  with  much  solemnity  to  his  master. 
Abdul  Rahim  smokes  three  or  four  pipes  every  evening, 
and  coffee  served  with  the  last  is  the  signal  for  his 
departure. 

A  guest,  if  he  does  not  bring  his  own  pipe  and  pipe- 
bearer,  has  a  kalian  offered  to  him,  but  if  the  host  be 
of  higher  rank  any  one  but  an  ignoramus  refuses  it  till 
he  has  smoked  first.  If  under  such  circumstances  a 
guest  incautiously  accepts  it,  he  is  invariably  mortified  by 
seeing  it  sent  into  the  ante-room  to  be  cleaned  and  refilled 
before  his  superior  will  smoke.  If  it  be  proper  for  him  to 
take  it,  he  offers  it  in  order  of  rank  to  all  present,  but 
takes  good  care  that  none  accept  it  till  he  has  enjoyed 
it,  after  which  the  attendant  passes  it  round  according  to 
rank.  In  cases  of  only  one  kalian  and  several  guests, 
they  smoke  in  order  of  position,  but  each  one  must  pay 
the  compliment  of  suggesting  that  some  one  else  should 
smoke  before  himself.  The  etiquette  of  smoking  is  most 
rigid.  I  heard  of  a  case  here  in  which  a  mollali,  who 
objected  to  smoke  after  a  European,  offered  it  to  one 
after  he  had  smoked  it  himself — so  gross  a  piece  of 
impertinence  that  the  other  called  the  pipe -bearer, 
saying,  "  You  can  break  that  pipe  to  pieces,  and  burn 


LETTER  v  PERSIAN  CARPETS  109 

the  stick,  I  do  not  care  to  smoke  it,"  upon  which  the 
mollah,  knowing  that  his  violation  of  etiquette  merited 
this  sharp  rebuke,  turned  pale  and  replied,  "  You  say 
truly,  I  have  eaten  dirt." 

The  lower  classes  smoke  a  coarse  Turkish  tobacco,  or 
a  Persian  mild  sort  looking  like  whitish  sawdust,  which  is 
merely  the  pounded  leaf,  stalk,  and  stem.  The  pipe  they 
use  and  carry  in  their  girdles  has  a  small  iron,  brass,  or 
clay  head,  and  a  straight  cherry-wood  stick,  with  a  very 
wide  bore  and  no  mouthpiece,  and  it  is  not  placed  in 
the  teeth  but  is  merely  held  between  the  lips.  Smoking 
seems  a  necessity  rather  than  a  luxury  in  Persia,  and  is 
one  of  the  great  features  of  social  life. 

Kirmanshah  is  famous  for  its  "  rugs,"  as  carpets  are 
called  in  this  country.  There  are  from  twenty-five  to 
thirty  kinds  with  their  specific  names.  Aniline  dyes 
have  gone  far  to  ruin  this  manufacture,  but  their  import 
is  now  prohibited.  A  Persian  would  not  look  at  the 
carpets  loosely  woven  and  with  long  pile,  which  are 
made  for  the  European  market,  and  are  bought  just  now 
from  the  weavers  at  13s.  the  square  yard.  A  carpet, 
according  to  Persian  notions,  must  be  of  fast  colours, 
fine  pile,  scarcely  longer  than  Utrecht  velvet,  and  ready 
to  last  at  least  a  century.  A  rug  can  scarcely  be 
said  to  have  reached  its  prime  or  artistic  mellowness  of 
tint  till  it  has  been  "  down "  for  ten  years.  The  per- 
manence of  the  dyes  is  tested  by  rubbing  the  rug  with  a 
wet  cloth,  when  the  worthless  colours  at  once  come  off. 

Among  the  real,  good  old  Persian  carpets  there  are 
very  few  patterns,  though  colouring  and  borders  vary 
considerably.  A  good  carpet,  if  new,  is  always  stiff; 
the  ends  when  doubled  should  meet  evenly.  There  must 
be  no  creases,  or  any  signs  on  the  wrong  side  of  darning 
or  "fine-drawing"  having  been  resorted  to  for  taking 
out  creases,  and  there  must  be  no  blue  in  the  white 


110  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  v 

cotton  finish  at  the  ends.  Carpets  with  much  white  are 
prized,  as  the  white  becomes  primrose,  a  colour  which 
wears  well.  Our  host  has  given  me  a  rug  of  the  oldest 
Persian  pattern,  on  a  white  ground,  very  thin  and  fine. 
Large  patterns  and  thick  wool  are  comparatively  cheap. 
It  is  nearly  impossible  to  say  what  carpets  sell  at,  for  if 
one  has  been  made  by  a  family  and  poverty  presses,  it 
may  be  sold  much  under  value,  or  if  it  is  a  good  one  and 
they  can  hold  on  they  may  force  a  carpet  fancier  to  give 
a  very  high  price.  From  what  Abdul  Eahim  says,  the  price 
varies  from  13s.  to  50s.  a  square  yard,  the  larger  carpets, 
about  fourteen  feet  by  eight  feet,  selling  for  £40.1 

Abdul  Eahim  took  me  to  see  carpet-weaving,  a  pro- 
cess carried  on  in  houses,  hovels,  and  tents  by  women 
and  children.  The  "  machinery "  is  portable  and  mar- 
vellously simple,  merely  two  upright  beams  fixed  in  the 
floor,  with  a  cross-beam  near  the  top  and  bottom,  round 
which  the  stout  cotton  or  woollen  threads  which  are  the 
basis  of  the  carpet  are  stretched.  The  wools  are  cut  in 
short  lengths  and  are  knotted  round  two  threads,  accord- 
ing to  the  pattern,  which,  however  elaborate,  the  weaver 
usually  carries  in  her  head.  After  a  few  inches  have  been 
woven  in  this  simple  way  the  right  side  is  combed  and  the 
superfluous  length  cut  off  with  rough  scissors.  Nothing 
can  be  more  simple  than  the  process  or  more  beautiful 
than  the  result.  The  vegetable  dyes  used  are  soft  and 
artistic,  specially  a  madder  red  and  the  various  shades  of 
indigo.  A  soft  turquoise  blue  is  much  used,  and  an 
"  olive  green,"  supposed  to  be  saffron  and  indigo.  The 
dull,  rich  tints,  even  when  new,  are  quite  beautiful. 
The  women  pursue  this  work  chiefly  in  odds  and  ends  of 

1  A  rug  only  eight  feet  by  five  feet  was  given  me  by  a  Persian  in  Tiliran, 
which  was  valued  for  duty  at  Erzerum  at  £3  the  square  yard,  with  the 
option  of  selling  it  to  the  Custom-house  at  that  price,  which  implies  that 
its  value  is  from  70s.  to  80s.  per  yard.  It  has  a  very  close  pile,  nearly  as 
short  and  fine  as  velvet 


LETTER  v  PERSIAN  SOLDIERS  111 

time,  and  in  some  cases  make  it  much  of  a  pastime. 
Men  being  present  they  were  very  closely  veiled,  and 
found  great  difficulty  in  holding  on  the  chadars  and 
knotting  the  wool  at  the  same  time. 

After  taking  tea  in  the  pleasant  upper  room  of  the 
carpet-weaver's  house,  we  visited  the  large  barracks  and 
parade  ground.  The  appearance  of  the  soldiers  could 
not  possibly  impress  a  stranger  favourably.  They  looked 
nothing  better  than ,"  dirty,  slouching  ragamuffins,"  slip- 
shod, in  tattered  and  cast-off  clothes  of  all  sorts,  on  the 
verge  of  actual  mendicancy,  bits  of  rusty  uniform  appearing 
here  and  there  amongst  their  cotton  rags.  The  quarters  are 
not  bad.  The  rank  and  file  get  one  and  a  half  pounds  of 
bread  daily  and  five  rupees  a  month  nominally,  but  their  pay 
is  in  arrears,  and  they  eke  it  out  by  working  at  different 
trades.  These  men  had  not  been  drilled  for  two  months, 
and  were  slovenly  and  unsoldierly  to  a  degree,  as  men 
must  be  who  have  no  proper  pay,  rations,  instruction, 
clothing,  or  equipments. 

The  courtesy  of  the  host  leaves  nothing  unthought  of. 
In  returning  from  a  long  stroll  round  the  city  a  wet  place 
had  to  be  crossed,  and  when  we  reached  it  there  were 
saddle-horses  ready.  On  arriving  at  dusk  in  the  bazar 
several  servants  met  us  with  lanterns.  The  lantern  is  an 
important  matter,  as  its  size  is  supposed  to  indicate  the 
position  of  the  wearer.  The  Persian  lantern  has  a  tin  or 
iron  top  and  bottom,  between  which  is  a  collapsible 
wired  cylinder  of  waxed  muslin.  The  light  from  the 
caudle  burning  inside  is  diffused  and  soft.  Three  feet 
long  and  two  feet  wide  is  not  an  uncommon  size.  They 
are  carried  close  to  the  ground,  illustrating  "  Thy  Word 
is  a  lamp  unto  my  path,"  and  none  but  the  poor  stir 
out  after  dark  without  a  lantern -bearer  in  front.  Our 
lanterns,  as  befits  the  Vakil's  position,  are  very  large. 

There  is  something  Biblical  in  the  progress  of  Abdul 


112  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  v 

Eahim  through  the  streets,  always  reminding  me  of 
"  greetings  in  the  market-place/'  and  "  doing  alms  to  be 
seen  of  men," — not  that  I  think  our  kind  host  sins  in  either 
direction.  "Peace  be  with  you,"  say  the  people,  bending 
low.  "  To  you  be  peace,"  replies  the  Agha. 

A  wish  having  been  expressed  to  visit  the  rock-sculp- 
tures of  the  Takt-i-Bostan,  a  winter  picnic  was  quietly 
arranged  for  the  purpose.  There  was  a  great  snowstorm  on 
the  night  we  arrived,  succeeded  by  intense  frost  and  clear 
blue  skies,— glorious  Canadian  winter  weather.  Outside 
the  wall  an  English  landau,  brought  in  pieces  from  Bagh- 
dad, awaited  us,  with  four  Arab  horses,  two  of  them 
ridden.  There  were  eleven  outriders  and  some  led 
horses,  and  a  Turki  pipe  -  bearer  rode  alongside  the 
carriage  with  two  cylinders  of  leather  containing  kalians 
in  place  of  holsters,  on  one  side,  behind  a  leather  water- 
bottle,  and  on  the  other  a  brazier  of  lighted  charcoal 
hanging  by  chains  much  below  the  horse's  body.  Another 
pipe-bearer  lighted  the  kalian  at  intervals  and  handed  it 
into  the  carriage  to  his  master.  Some  of  the  horsemen 
carried  rifles  and  wore  cartridge-belts. 

Reaching  the  Karasu  river  we  got  out  into  deep  mud, 
were  ferried  over  in  a  muddy  box  hauling  on  a  rope,  and 
drove  to  the  Takt-i-Bostan,  where  several  tanks  of 
clear  water,  a  house  built  into  the  rock,  a  number  of 
Kurds  on  fine  horses,  the  arched  recesses  in  the  rock 
which  contain  the  sculptures,  and  the  magnificent  range 
of  the  Jabali-Besitun  formed  a  very  striking  scene. 

Sir  H.  Eawlinson  considers  these  sculptures  the  finest 
in  Persia,  and  regards  them  as  the  work  of  Greek  artists 
The  lower  of  the  two  bas-reliefs  at  the  back  of  the  main 
recess  is  a  colossal  figure  of  a  king  on  horseback,  "  the  staff 
of  whose  spear  is  as  a  weaver's  beam."  On  the  sides  of  the 
recess,  and,  like  the  equestrian  figure,  in  very  high  relief 
and  very  much  undercut,  are  scenes  from  the  chase  of  a 


LETTER  v  THE  TAKT-I-BOSTAN  113 

most  spirited  description,  representing  a  king  and  court 
mounted  on  elephants,  horses,  and  camels,  hunting  boars, 
stags,  and  other  animals,  their  enthusiasm  in  the  pursuit 
being  successfully  conveyed  by  the  art  of  the  sculptor. 
In  the  spandrels  of  the  archway  of  the  main  recess  are 
carved,  winged  female  figures.  In  the  smaller  arch,  also 
containing  a  bas-relief,  is  a  Pehlevi  inscription.1 

There  is  a  broad  stone  platform  in  front  of  the  arch, 
below  which  flows  direct  from  the  mountain  a  great 
volume  of  water,  which  replenishes  the  tanks.  The  house, 
which  also  contains  a  tank  fed  by  the  same  living  water, 
the  mountain  and  its  treasures,  the  tanks,  and  some  miles 
of  avenues  of  willows,  have  been  bought  by  the  Vakil, 
and  his  son  laughingly  says  that  he  hopes  to  live  to  see  a 
time  when  Cook  will  give  "  tourist  excursion  tickets  "  by 
rail  to  the  Takt-i-Bostan ! 

Coffee  and  kalians  were  served  to  the  Kurds  in  the 
arch,  and  mounting  the  horses  we  rode  to  a  country  house 
belonging  to  our  host  in  the  midst  of  large  rose  gardens, 
and  with  a  wonderful  view  of  the  magnificent  Besituu 
range,  of  the  rolling  snowy  hills  on  which  Kirmanshah 
and  its  plantations  lay  like  a  black  splotch,  and  of  this 
noble  plain,  six  miles  long  from  north  to  south,  and  thirty 
from  east  to  west,  its  absolutely  unbroken  snow  gleam- 
ing like  satin,  and  shadows  lying  upon  it  in  pure  blue. 
Many  servants  and  a  large  fire  awaited  us  in  that  pleasant 
bungalow,  as  well  as  coffee  and  sweetmeats,  and  we  stayed 
there  till  the  sinking  sun  flushed  all  the  surrounding  hills 
with  pink,  and  the  gray  twilight  came  on. 

I  rode  a  splendid  Arab,  with  a  neck  "  clothed  with 

1  For  the  Sasanian  inscriptions,  vide  Early  Sasanian  Inscriptions,  by  E. 
Thomas.  The  great  work  published  by  the  French  Government,  Voyage 
en  Perse,  Paris,  1851,  by  Messieurs  Flandin  et  Coste,  contains  elaborate 
and  finely-executed  representations  of  these  rock  sculptures,  which  are 
mostly  of  the  time  of  the  later  Sasanian  monarchs. 

VOL.  I  I 


114  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  v 

thunder,"  a  horse  to  make  one  feel  young  again,  with 
his  elastic  stride  and  pride  of  bearing,  but  indeed  I 
"  snatched  a  fearful  joy,"  for  the  snow  was  extremely 
slippery,  and  thirteen  Arab  horses  in  high  condition 
restrained  to  a  foot's  pace  had  belligerent  views  of  their 
own,  tending  to  disconcert  an  unwary  rider.  We  crossed 
the  Karasu  by  a  deep  and  devious  ford  up  to  the  girths, 
and  had  an  exhilarating  six  miles'  ride  by  moonlight  in 
keen  frost,  the  powdery  snow  crackling  under  the  horses' 
feet.  It  was  too  slippery  to  enter  the  town  on  horse- 
back, but  servants  with  lanterns  awaited  us  at  the  gates 
and  roaring  fires  and  dinner  were  ready  here,  after  a 
delightful  expedition. 

I  dined  alone  with  our  host,  Hadji,  who  understands  and 
speaks  English  fairly  well,  acting  as  interpreter.  Abdul 
Bahirn  at  once  plunged  into  politics,  and  asked  very  many 
intelligent  questions  about  English  politics  and  parties, 
the  condition  and  housing  of  our  working  classes,  and 
then  about  my  own  family  and  occupations.  He  is  a 
zealous  Moslem,  and  the  pious  phrases  which  sit  so  oddly 
on  Hadji  come  very  naturally  from  his  lips.  In  reply  to 
a  sketch  of  character  which  I  gave  him  he  said :  "  What 
God  does  is  good.  He  knows,  we  submit.  He  of  whom 
you  speak  laid  up  great  treasure  for  another  life.  Whoso 
loves  and  befriends  the  poor  is  acceptable  to  God.  One 
day  we  shall  know  all.  God  is  good."  He  said  he  had 
been  too  busy  to  learn  English,  but  that  he  understands 
a  great  deal,  and  added,  with  a  roguish  gleam  lighting  up 
his  whole  face,  and  a  very  funny  laugh,  "  And  I  hear 

what  M says."  He  has  seen  but  very  few  English 

ladies,  and  it  shows  great  quickness  of  apprehension  that 
he  should  never  fail  in  the  respectfulness  and  quiet 
courteous  attentions  which  would  be  shown  to  a  lady  by 
an  English  host. 

Even  after  India,  the  quantity  of  servants  employed  in 


LETTER  v  A  PERSIAN  HOUSEHOLD  115 

such  a  household  as  this  is  very  impressive.  Besides 
a  number  who  are  with  the  Vakil  in  Tihran,  there  are 
the  nazr  or  steward,  who  under  the  master  is  supreme, 
cooks  and  their  assistants,  table  servants,  farashes,  who 
are  sweepers  and  message-runners,  in  any  number,  pipe- 
bearers,  coffee  and  ice-makers,  plate-cleaners,  washermen, 
lamp-cleaners,  who  are  also  lantern-bearers,  a  head  groom, 
with  a  groom  for  each  horse  under  him,  and  a  number 
more,  over  forty  in  all,  receiving,  if  paid  at  the  usual 
rate  of  wages  in  Kirmanshah,  which  is  a  cheap  place, 
from  sixty  krans  a  month  down  to  twenty,  the  kran  being 
now  about  8d.  These  wages  do  not  represent  the  actual 
gains  of  a  servant,  for  he  is  entitled  to  perquisites,  which 
are  chiefly  in  the  form  of  commissions  on  things  bought 
and  sold  by  his  master,  and  which  are  regarded  as  legiti- 
mate if  they  do  not  exceed  10  per  cent.  It  is  of  no  use 
to  fight  again  this  "  modakel,"  or  to  vex  one's  soul  in  any 
way  about  it.  Persians  have  to  submit  to  it  as  well 
as  Europeans.  Hadji  has  endeavoured  to  extract  from 
50  to  80  per  cent  on  purchases  made  by  him  for  me, 
but  this  is  thought  an  outrage. 

This  modakel  applies  to  all  bargains.  If  a  charvadar 
(no  longer  a  katirgi)  is  hired,  he  has  to  pay  one's  servant 
10  per  cent  on  the  contract  price.  If  I  sell  a  horse,  my 
servant  holds  out  for  a  good  price,  and  takes  his  1 0  per 
cent,  and  the  same  thing  applies  to  a  pair  of  shoes,  or 
a  pound  of  tea,  or  a  chicken,  or  a  bottle  of  milk.  The 
system  comes  down  from  the  highest  quarters.  The 
price  paid  by  the  governor  of  a  province  to  the  Shah  is 
but  the  Shah's  modakel,  and  when  a  governor  farms  the 
taxes  for  60,000  tumans  and  sells  them  for  80,000,  the 
difference  is  his  modakel,  and  so  it  goes  on  through  all 
official  transactions  and  appointments,  and  is  a  fruitful 
source  of  grinding  oppression,  and  of  inefficiency  in  the 
army  and  other  departments.  The  servant,  poor  fellow, 


116  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  v 

may  stop  at  10  per  cent,  but  the  Shah's  servant  may 
think  himself  generous  if  he  hesitates  at  50  per  cent. 
I  have  heard  it  said  that  when  the  late  Shah  was  dying 
he  said  to  the  present  sovereign :  "  If  you  would  sit  long 
upon  the  throne,  see  that  there  is  only  one  spoon  among 
ten  men,"  and  that  the  system  represented  by  this  speech 
is  faithfully  carried  out.  I.  L.  B. 


LETTER  vi  PIOUS  PHRASEOLOGY  117 


LETTEE   VI 

KIRMANSHAH,  Feb.  2. 

ON  January  28  there  was  a  tremendous  snowfall,  and 
even  before  that  the  road  to  Hamadan,  which  was  our 
possible  route,  had  been  blocked  for  some  days.  The 
temperature  has  now  risen  to  31°,  with  a  bitter  wind, 
and  much  snow  in  the  sky.  The  journey  does  not 
promise  well.  Two  of  the  servants  have  been  ill.  I  am 
not  at  all  well,  and  the  reports  of  the  difficulties  farther 
on  are  rather  serious.  These  things  are  certain, — that  the 
marches  are  very  long,  and  without  any  possibility  of 
resting  en  route  owing  to  mud  or  snow,  and  that  the  food 
and  accommodation  will  be  horrible. 

Hadji  is  turning  out  very  badly.  He  has  fever  now, 
poor  fellow,  and  is  even  more  useless  than  usual.  Abdul 
Rahim  does  not  like  him  to  interpret,  and  calls  him  "  the 
savage."  He  does  no  work,  and  is  both  dirty  and  dis- 
honest. The  constant  use  of  pious  phrases  is  not  a  good 
sign  either  of  Moslem  or  Christian.  I  told  him  this 
morning  that  I  could  not  eat  from  so  dirty  a  plate. 
"  God  is  great,"  he  quietly  answered.  He  broke  my 
trestle  bed  by  not  attending  to  directions,  and  when  I 
pointed  out  what  he  had  done,  he  answered,  "  God  knows 
all,  God  ordains  all  things."  It  is  really  exasperating. 

It  is  necessary  to  procure  an  additional  outfit  for 
the  journey — a  slow  process — masks  lined  with  flannel, 
sheepskin  bags  for  the  feet,  the  thick  felt  coats  of  the 


118  JOUENEYS  IN  PEESIA  LETTER  vi 

country  for  all  the  servants,  additional  blankets,  kajawehs 
for  me,  and  saddle-horses.  The  marches  will  frequently 
be  from  twenty  to  thirty  miles  in  length,  and  the  fatigue 
of  riding  them  at  a  foot's  pace  when  one  cannot  exchange 
riding  for  walking  will  be  so  great  that  I  have  had  a  pair 
of  Jcajawehs  made  in  which  to  travel  when  I  am  tired  of 
the  mule.  These  panniers  are  oblong  wooden  boxes, 
eighteen  inches  high,  with  hoops  over  them  for  curtains. 
One  hangs  on  each  side  of  the  mule  on  a  level  with  his 
back,  and  they  are  mounted,  i.e.  they  are  scrambled  into 
from  the  front  by  a  ladder,  which  is  carried  between 
them.  Most  women  and  some  men  travel  in  them. 
They  are  filled  up  with  quilts  and  cushions.  The  mule 
which  is  to  carry  them  is  a  big  and  powerful  animal,  and 
double  price  is  charged  for  him. 

Horses  are  very  good  and  cheap  here.  A  pure  Arab 
can  be  bought  for  £14,  and  a  cross  between  an  Arab  and 
a  Kurdish  horse — a  breed  noted  for  endurance — for  even 
less.  But  to  our  thinking  they  are  small,  never  ex- 
ceeding fifteen  hands.  The  horses  of  the  Kirmanshah 
province  are  esteemed  everywhere,  and  there  is  a  steady 
drain  upon  them  for  the  Indian  market.  The  stud  of 
three  horses  requires  a  groom,  and  Abdul  Eahim  is 
sending  a  sowar,  who  looks  a  character,  to  attend  us  to 
Tihran.  A  muleteer,  remarkable  in  appearance  and 
beauty,  and  twelve  fine  mules  have  been  engaged.  The 
sowar  and  several  other  men  have  applied  to  me  for 
medicine,  having  fearful  coughs,  etc.,  but  I  have  not  been 
fortunate  enough  to  cure  them,  as  their  maladies  chiefly 
require  good  feeding,  warm  bedding,  and  poultices,  which 
are  unattainable.  It  is  pitiable  to  see  the  poor  shivering 
in  their  thin  cotton  clothes  in  such  weather.  The  men 
make  shift  with  the  seamless  felt  coats — more  cloaks  than 
coats,  with  long  bag-like  sleeves  tapering  to  the  size  of  a 
glove  but  with  a  slit  midway,  through  which  the  hands 


LETTER  vi      DEPARTURE  FROM  KIRMANSHAH  119 

can  be  protruded  when  need  arises.     The  women  have 
no  outer  garment  but  the  thin  cotton  chadar. 

I  have  tried  to  get  a  bed  made,  but  there  is  no  wood 
strong  enough  for  the  purpose,  and  the  bazars  cannot 
produce  any  canvas. 

Sannah,  Feb.  5. — Yesterday  we  were  to  have  started  at 
nine,  but  the  usual  quarrelling  about  loads  detained  us  till 
10.30,  so  that  it  was  nearly  dark  when  we  reached  the 
end  of  the  first  stage  of  a  three  weeks'  journey.  From 
the  house  roof  the  prospect  was  most  dismal.  It  was 
partly  thawing,  and  through  the  whiteness  of  the  plain  ran 
a  brown  trail  with  sodden  edges,  indicating  mud.  The 
great  mass  of  the  Jabali-Besitun,  or  Behistun,  or  Behishtan, 
though  on  the  other  side  of  the  plain,  seemed  actually  im- 
pending over  the  city,  with  its  great  black  rock  masses,  too 
steep  to  hold  the  snow,  and  the  Besitun  mountain  itself, 
said  to  be  twenty-four  miles  away,  looming  darkly  through 
gray  snow  clouds,  looked  hardly  ten.  Our  host  had  sent 
men  on  to  see  if  the  landau  could  take  me  part  of  the  way 
at  least ;  but  their  verdict  was  that  the  road  was  impassable. 

After  much  noise  the  caravan  got  under  way,  but  it 
was  soon  evident  that  the  fine  mules  we  had  engaged 
had  been  changed  for  a  poor,  sore-backed  set,  and  that 
the  fine  saddle-mule  I  was  to  have  had  was  metamor- 
phosed into  a  poor  weak  creature,  which  began  to  drop 
his  leg  from  the  shoulder  almost  as  soon  as  we  were  out- 
side the  walls,  and  on  a  steep  bridge  came  down  on  his 
nose  with  a  violent  fall,  giving  me  a  sharp  strain,  and  fell 
several  times  afterwards ;  indeed,  the  poor  animal  could 
scarcely  keep  on  his  legs  during  the  eight  hours'  march. 

Hadji  rode  in  a  kajaweh,  balanced  by  some  luggage, 
and  was  to  keep  close  to  me,  but  when  I  wanted  to 
change  my  broken-down  beast  for  a  pannier  he  was  not 
to  be  seen,  then  or  afterwards,  and  came  in  late.  The 
big  mule  had  fallen,  he  was  bruised,  the  kajawehs  were 


120  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

smashed  to  pieces,  and  were  broken  up  for  firewood,  and 
I  am  now  without  any  means  of  getting  any  rest  from 
riding !  "  It's  the  pace  that  kills."  In  snow  and  mud 
gallops  are  impossible,  and  three  miles  an  hour  is  good 
going. 

An  hour  from  Kirmanshah  the  road  crosses  the  Karasu 
by  a  good  brick  bridge,  and  proceeds  over  the  plain  for 
many  miles,  keeping  the  Besitun  range  about  two  miles 
on  the  left,  and  then  passes  over  undulating  ground  to  the 
Besitun  village.  Two  or  three  large  villages  occur  at  a 
distance  from  the  road,  now  shut  in,  and  about  eight  miles 
from  Besitun  there  are  marble  columns  lying  on  the 
ground  among  some  remains  of  marble  walls,  now  only 
hummocks  in  the  snow. 

The  road  was  churned  into  deep  mud  by  the  passage 
of  animals,  and  the  snow  was  too  deep  to  ride  in.  My 
mule  lost  no  opportunity  of  tumbling  down,  and  I  felt 
myself  a  barbarian  for  urging  him  on.  Hills  and  moun- 
tains glistened  in  all  directions.  The  only  exception-  to 
the  general  whiteness  was  Piru,  the  great  rock  mass  of 
Besitun,  which  ever  loomed  blackly  overhead  through 
clouds  and  darkness,  and  never  seemed  any  nearer.  It 
was  very  solitary.  I  met  only  a  caravan  of  carpets,  and 
a  few  men  struggling  along  with  laden  asses. 

It  was  the  most  artistic  day  of  the  whole  journey, 
much  cloud  flying  about,  mountains  in  indigo  gloom,  or  in 
gray,  with  storm  clouds  round  their  heads,  or  pure  white, 
with  shadows  touched  in  with  cobalt,  while  peaks  and 
ridges,  sun-kissed,  gleamed  here  and  there  above  indigo 
and  gray.  Not  a  tree  or  even  bush,  on  them  or  on  the 
plain,  broke  the  monotony  after  a  summer  palace  of  the 
Shah,  surrounded  by  poplars,  was  passed.  There  is 
plenty  of  water  everywhere. 

As  the  sun  was  stormily  tinging  with  pink  the 
rolling  snow-clouds  here  and  there,  I  halted  on  the  brow 


LETTER  vi  ARRIVAL  AT  BESITUN  121 

of  a  slope  under  the  imposing  rock  front  of  Besitun  to 
wait  for  orders.  It  was  wildly  magnificent :  the  huge 
precipice  of  Piru,  rising  1*700  feet  from  the  level,  the 
mountains  on  both  sides  of  the  valley  approaching  each 
other,  and  behind  Piru  a  craggy  ravine,  glorified  here 
and  there  by  touches  of  amber  and  pink  upon  the  clouds 
which  boiled  furiously  out  of  its  depths.  In  the  fore- 
ground were  a  huge  caravanserai  with  a  noble  portal,  a 
solitary  thing  upon  the  snow,  not  a  dwelling,  but  offering 
its  frigid  hospitality  to  all  corners ;  a  river  with  many 
windings,  and  the  ruinous  hovels  of  Besitun  huddled 
in  the  mud  behind.  An  appalling  view  in  the  wild  twi- 
light of  a  winter  evening ;  and  as  the  pink  died  out,  a 
desolate  ghastliness  fell  upon  it.  As  I  waited,  all  but 
worn  out  by  the  long  march,  the  tumbling  mule,  and  the 
icy  wind,  I  thought  I  should  like  never  to  hear  the  deep 
chimes  of  a  Persian  caravan,  or  see  the  huge  portal  of 
a  Persian  caravanserai  any  more.  These  are  cowardly 
emotions  which  are  dispelled  by  warmth  and  food,  but  at 
that  moment  there  was  not  much  prospect  of  either. 

Through  seas  of  mud  and  by  mounds  of  filth  we 
entered  Besitun,  a  most  wretched  village  of  eighteen 
hovels,  chiefly  ruinous,  where  we  dismounted  in  the 
mixed  snow  and  mud  of  a  yard  at  a  hovel  of  three 
rooms  vacated  by  a  family.  It  was  a  better  shelter  than 
could  have  been  hoped  for,  though  after  a  fire  was  made, 
which  filled  the  room  with  smoke,  I  had  to  move  from 
place  to  place  to  avoid  the  drip  from  the  roof. 

Hadji  said  he  was  ill  of  fever,  and  seemed  like  an 
idiot ;  but  the  orderly  said  that  the  illness  was  shammed 
and  the  stupidity  assumed  in  order  not  to  work.  I  told 
him  to  put  the  mattress  on  the  bed ;  "  Pour  water  on  the 
mattress,"  he  replied.  I  repeated,  "  Put — the — mattress 
— on — the — bed,"  to  which  he  replied,  "  Put  the  mattress 
into  water ! "  I  said  if  he  felt  too  ill  for  his  work  he 


122  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

might  go  to  bed.  "  God  knows,"  he  answered.  "  Yes, 
knows  that  you  are  a  lazy,  good-for-nothing,  humbug- 
ging brute" — a  well-timed  objurgation  from  M—  — , 
which  elicited  a  prolonged  "  Ya  Allah ! "  but  produced  no 
effect,  as  the  tea  and  chapatties  were  not  relatively  but 
absolutely  cold  the  next  morning. 

The  next  day  dawned  miserably,  and  the  daylight 
when  it  came  was  only  a  few  removes  from  darkness, 
yet  it  was  enough  to  bring  out  the  horrors  of  that 
wretched  place,  and  the  dirt  and  poverty  of  the  people, 
who  were  a  prey  to  skin  diseases.  Many  readers  will 
remember  that  Sir  H.  Rawlinson  considers  that  there  are 
good  geographical  and  etymological  reasons  for  identify- 
ing Besitun  with  the  Baghistan,  or  Place  of  Gardens  of 
the  Greeks,  and  with  the  famous  pleasure-grounds  which 
tradition  ascribes  to  Semiramis.  But  of  these  gardens 
not  a  trace  remains.  A  precipitous  rock,  smoothed  at  its 
lower  part,  a  vigorous  spring  gushing  out  at  the  foot  of 
the  precipice,  two  tablets,  one  of  which,  at  a  height  of 
over  300  feet,  visible  from  the  road  but  inaccessible,  is 
an  Acheemenian  sculpture  portraying  the  majesty  of 
Darius,  with  about  a  thousand  lines  of  cuneiform  writing, 
are  all  that  survive  of  the  ancient  splendours  of  Besitun, 
with  the  exception  of  some  buttresses  opposite  the  rock, 
belonging  to  a  vanished  Sasanian  bridge  over  the  Gamasiab, 
and  some  fragments  of  other  buildings  of  the  Sasanian 
epoch.  These  deeply  interesting  antiquities  have  been 
described  and  illustrated  by  Sir  H.  Eawliuson,  Flandin 
and  Coste,  and  others. 

It  has  been  a  severe  day.  It  was  so  unpromising  that 
a  start  was  only  decided  on  after  many  pros  and  cons. 
Through  dark  air  small  flakes  of  snow  fell  sparsely  at 
intervals  from  a  sky  from  which  all  light  had  died  out. 
Gusts  of  icy  wind  swept  down  every  gorge.  Huge  ragged 
masses  of  cloud  drifted  wildly  round  the  frowning  mass 


LETTER  vi  A  "BLIZZARD"  123 

of  Piru.  Now  and  then  the  gusts  ceased,  and  there  was 
an  inauspicious  calm. 

I  rode  a  big  mule  not  used  to  the  bit,  very  trouble- 
some and  mulish  at  first,  but  broken  in  an  hour.  A 
clear  blink  revealed  the  tablets,  but  from  their  great  alti- 
tude the  tallest  of  the  figures  only  looked  two  feet  high. 
There  is  little  to  see  on  this  march  even  under  favour- 
able circumstances.  A  few  villages,  the  ruined  fort  of 
Hassan  Khan,  now  used  as  a  caravanserai,  on  a  height, 
the  windings  of  the  Gamasiab,  and  a  few  canals  crossed 
by  brick  bridges,  represent  its  chief  features.  Impres- 
sions of  a  country  received  in  a  storm  are  likely  to  be 
incorrect,  but  they  were  pleasurable.  Everything  seemed 
on  a  grand  scale  :  here  desolate  plateaus  pure  white,  there 
high  mountains  and  tremendous  gorges,  from  which  white 
mists  were  boiling  up — everything  was  shrouded  in 
mystery — plain  prose  ceased  to  be  for  some  hours. 

The  others  had  to  make  several  halts,  so  I  left  the 
"  light  division  "  and  rode  on  alone.  It  became  dark  and 
wild,  and  presently  the  surface  of  the  snow  began  to 
move  and  to  drift  furiously  for  about  a  foot  above  the 
ground.  The  wind  rose  to  a  gale.  I  held  my  hat  on 
with  one  half-frozen  hand.  My  mackintosh  cape  blew 
inside  out,  and  struck  me  such  a  heavy  blow  on  the  eyes 
that  for  some  time  I  could  not  see  and  had  to  trust  to 
the  mule.  The  wind  rose  higher ;  it  was  furious,  and  the 
drift,  not  only  from  the  valley  but  from  the  mountain 
sides,  was  higher  than  my  head,  stinging  and  hissing  as 
it  raced  by.  It  was  a  "blizzard,"  a  brutal  snow-laden 
north  -  easter,  carrying  fine,  sharp,  hard  -  frozen  snow 
crystals,  which  beat  on  my  eyes  and  blinded  them. 

After  a  short  experience  of  it  my  mule  "  turned  tail " 
and  needed  spurring  to  make  him  face  it.  I  fought  on 
for  an  hour,  crossed  what  appeared  to  be  a  bridge,  where 
there  were  a  few  mud  hovels,  and  pressed  on  down  a 


124  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

narrower  valley.  The  blizzard  became  frightful;  from 
every  ravine  gusts  of  storm  came  down,  sweeping  the 
powdery  snow  from  the  hillsides  into  the  valley;  the 
mountains  were  blotted  out,  the  depression  in  the  snow 
which  erewhile  had  marked  the  path  was  gone,  I  could 
not  even  see  the  mule's  neck,  and  he  was  floundering  in 
deep  .snow  up  to  the  girths ;  the  hiss  of  the  drift  had  in- 
creased to  a  roar,  the  violence  of  the  storm  produced 
breathlessness  and  the  intense  cold  numbness.  It  was 
dangerous  for  a  solitary  traveller,  and  thinking  that 

M would  be  bothered  by  missing  one  of  the  party 

under  such  circumstances,  I  turned  and  waited  under  the 
lee  of  a  ruinous  mud  hovel  for  a  long,  long  time  till  the 
others  came  up — two  of  the  men  having  been  unhorsed  in 
a  drift. 

In  those  hovels  there  were  neither  accommodation  nor 
supplies,  and  we  decided  to  push  on.  It  was  never  so 
bad  again.  The  wind  moderated,  wet  snow  fell  heavily, 
but  cleared  off,  and  there  was  a  brilliant  blue  heaven 
with  heavy  sunlit  cloud-wreaths,  among  which  colossal 
mountain  forms  displayed  themselves,  two  peaks  in 
glorious  sunlight,  high,  high  above  a  whirling  snow-cloud, 
which  was  itself  far  above  a  great  mountain  range  below. 
There  were  rifts,  valleys,  gorges,  naked,  nearly  perpen- 
dicular rocks,  the  faces  of  mountains,  half  of  which  had 
fallen  down  in  the  opposite  direction,  a  snow-filled  valley, 
a  winding  river  with  brief  blue  stretches,  a  ruined  fort 
on  an  eminence,  a  sharp  turn,  a  sudden  twilight,  and 
then  another  blizzard  far  colder  than  the  last,  raging 
down  a  lateral  ravine,  up  which,  even  through  the  blind- 
ing drift,  were  to  be  seen,  to  all  seeming  higher  than 
mountains  of  this  earth,  the  twin  peaks  of  Shamran  lighted 
by  the  sun.  I  faced  the  blizzard  for  some  time,  and  then 
knowing  that  Hadji  and  the  cook,  who  were  behind  me, 
would  turn  off  to  a  distant  village,  all  trace  of  a  track 


LETTER  vi  A  DIFFICULT  TRACK  125 

having  disappeared,  I  rode  fully  a  mile  back  and  waited 
half  an  hour  for  them.  They  were  half-frozen,  and  had 
hardly  been  able  to  urge  their  mules,  which  were  lightly 
laden,  through  the  snow,  and  Hadji  was  groaning  "  Ya 
Allah  \ " 

The  blizzard  was  over  and  the  sky  almost  cloudless, 
but  the  mercury  had  fallen  to  18°,  and  a  keen  wind  was 
still  blowing  the  powdery  snow  to  the  height  of  a  foot. 
I  sent  the  two  men  on  in  front,  and  by  dint  of  calling  to 
them  constantly,  kept  them  from  getting  into  drifts  of 
unknown  depth.  We  rode  up  a  rising  plateau  for  two 
hours — a  plateau  of  deep,  glittering,  blinding,  trackless 
snow,  giving  back  the  sunshine  in  millions  of  diamond 
flashings.  Through  all  this  region  thistles  grow  to  a 
height  of  four  feet,  and  the  only  way  of  finding  the  track 
was  to  look  out  for  a  space  on  which  no  withered  thistle- 
blooms  appeared  above  the  snow. 

This  village  of  Sannah  lies  at  an  altitude  of  about  5500 
feet,  among  poplar  plantations  and  beautiful  gardens,  in 
which  fine  walnut  trees  are  conspicuous.  Though  partly 
ruinous  it  is  a  flourishing  little  place,  its  lands  being 
abundantly  watered  by  streams  which  run  into  the 
Gamasiab.  It  is  buried  now  in  snow,  and  the  only  mode 
of  reaching  it  is  up  the  bed  of  a  broad  sparkling  stream 
among  the  gardens.  The  sowar  met  us  here,  the  navi- 
gation being  difficult,  and  the  "  light  division "  having 
come  up,  we  were  taken  to  the  best  house  in  the  village, 
where  the  family  have  vacated  two  rooms,  below  the 
level  of  a  yard  full  of  snow.  The  plateau  and  its  ad- 
jacent mountains  were  flushed  with  rose  as  we  entered 
Sannah,  and  as  soon  as  the  change  to  the  pallor  of  death 
came  on  the  mercury  raced  down  to  zero  outside,  and  it 
is  only  6°  in  the  room  in  which  I  am  writing. 

There  is  a  large  caravanserai  at  the  entrance  to  Sannah, 
and  I  suspect  that  the  sowar  in  choosing  private  quarters 


126  JOURNEYS  IX  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

bullies  the  ketchuda  (headman)  and  throws  the  village 
into  confusion,  turning  the  women  and  children  out  of 
the  rooms,  the  owners,  though  they  get  a  handsome  sum 
for  the  accommodation,  having  to  give  him  an  equally 
handsome  modakel. 

After  nearly  nine  hours  of  a  crawling  pace  and  ex- 
posure to  violent  weather,  I  suffered  from  intense  pain 
in  my  joints,  and  was  dragged  and  lifted  in  and  put  into 
a  chair.  I  write  "  put,"  for  I  was  nearly  helpless,  and  had 
to  take  a  teaspoouful  of  whisky  in  warm  milk.  While  the 
lire  was  being  made  two  women,  with  a  gentle  kindliness 
which  won  my  heart,  chafed  my  trembling,  nearly  frozen 
hands  with  their  own,  with  kindly,  womanly  looks, 
which  supplied  the  place  of  speech. 

I  lay  down  under  a  heap  of  good  blankets,  sorry  to 
see  them  in  thin  cotton  clothes,  and  when  I  was  less 
frozen  observed  my  room  and  its  grotesquely  miserable 
aspect,  "  the  Savage  "  never  taking  any  trouble  to  arrange 
it.  There  are  no  windows,  and  the  divided  door  does 
not  shut  by  three  inches.  A  low  hole  leads  into 
the  granary,  which  is  also  the  fowl-house,  but  the  fowls 
have  no  idea  of  keeping  to  their  own  apartment.  Two 
sheep  with  injured  legs  lie  in  a  corner  with  some  fodder 
beside  them.  A  heap  of  faggots,  the  bed  placed  diagon- 
ally to  avoid  the  firehole  in  the  floor,  a  splashed  tarpaulin 
on  which  Hadji  threw  down  the  saddle  and  bridle  plastered 
with  mud,  and  all  my  travelling  gear,  a  puddle  of  frozen 
water,  a  plough,  and  some  ox  yokes,  an  occasional  gust  of 
ashes  covering  everything,  and  clouds  of  smoke  from 
wood  which  refuses  to  do  anything  but  smoke,  are 
the  luxuries  of  the  halt.  The  house  is  full  of  people, 
and  the  women  come  in  and  out  without  scruple,  and  I 
am  really  glad  to  see  them,  though  it  is  difficult  to  rouse 
Hadji  from  his  opium  pipe  and  coffee,  and  his  comfortable 
lounge  by  a  good  fire,  to  interpret  for  them. 


LETTER  vi  THE  "DEMON  WIND"  127 

The  day's  experiences  remind  me  of  the  lines — 

"  Bare  all  he  could  endure, 
And  bare  not  always  well." 

But  tired  and  benumbed  as  I  am  I  much  prefer  a  march 
with  excitements  and  difficulties  to  the  monotony  of 
splashing  through  mud  in  warm  rain. 

Hamildbad,  Feb.  7. — The  next  morning  opened  cloud- 
less," with  the  mercury  at  18°,  which  was  hardly  an  excuse 
for  tea  and  chapatties  being  quite  cold.  I  was  ready  much 
too  early,  and  the  servants  having  given  out  that  I  am 
a  Hakim,  my  room  was  crowded  with  women  and  chil- 
dren, all  suffering  from  eye  diseases  and  scrofula,  five 
women  not  nearly  in  middle  life  with  cataract  advanced 
in  both  eyes,  and  many  with  incurved  eyelids,  the 
result  of  wood  smoke.  It  was  most  painful  to  see  their 
disappointment  when  I  told  them  that  it  would  need 
time  to  cure  some  of  them,  and  that  for  others  I  could 
do  nothing.  Could  I  not  stay  ?  they  pleaded.  I  could 
have  that  room  and  milk  and  eggs — the  best  they  had. 
"  And  they  lifted  up  their  voices  and  wept."  I  felt  like 
a  brute  for  leaving  them.  The  people  there  showed  much 
interest  in  our  movements,  crowding  on  the  roofs  to  see 
our  gear,  and  the  start. 

The  order  of  march  now  is  —  light  division,  three 
mules  with  an  orderly,  Hadji,  and  the  cook  upon  them, 
the  two  last  carrying  what  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
night  in  case  the  heavy  division  cannot  get  on.  M— 
and  an  orderly,  the  sowar,  Abbas  Khan,  another  who  is 
changed  daily,  the  light  division  and  I,  sometimes  start 
together ;  but  as  the  others  are  detained  by  work  on  the 
road,  I  usually  ride  on  ahead  with  the  two  servants. 

To  write  that  we  all  survived  the  march  of  that  day 
is  strange,  when  the  same  pitiless  blast  or  "  demon  wind," 
blowing  from  "  the  roof  of  the  world  " — the  Parnir  desert, 


128  JOUENEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

made  corpses  of  five  men  who  started  with  a  caravan 
ahead  of  us  that  morning.  We  had  to  climb  a  long 
ascending  plateau  for  1500  feet,  to  surmount  a  pass. 
The  snow  was  at  times  three  feet  deep,  and  the  tracks 
even  of  a  heavy  caravan  which  crossed  before  us  were 
effaced  by  the  drift  in  a  few  minutes. 

A  sun  without  heat  glared  and  scintillated  like  an 
electric  light,  white  and  unsympathetic,  out  of  a  pitiless 
sky  without  a  cloud.  As  soon  as  we  emerged  from  Sannah 
the  "  demon  wind "  seized  on  us — a  steady,  blighting, 
searching,  merciless  blast,  no  rise  or  fall,  no  lull,  no  hope. 
Steadily  and  strongly  it  swept,  at  a  temperature  of  9°, 
across  the  glittering  ascent — swept  mountain-sides  bare ; 
enveloped  us  at  times  in  glittering  swirls  of  powdery  snow, 
which  after  biting  and  stinging  careered  over  the  slopes 
in  twisted  columns ;  screeched  down  gorges  and  whistled 
like  the  demon  it  was,  as  it  drifted  the  light  frozen  snow 
in  layers,  in  ripples,  in  waves,  a  cruel,  benumbing,  blinding, 
withering  invisibility ! 

The  six  woollen  layers  of  my  mask,  my  three  pairs  of 
gloves,  my  sheepskin  coat,  fur  cloak,  and  mackintosh  piled 
on  over  a  swaddling  mass  of  woollen  clothing,  were  as 
nothing  before  that  awful  blast.  It  was  not  a  question 
of  comfort  or  discomfort,  or  of  suffering  more  or  less 
severe,  but  of  life  or  death,  as  the  corpses  a  few  miles 
ahead  of  us  show.  I  am  certain  that  if  it  had  lasted 
another  half-hour  I  too  should  have  perished.  The  torture 
of  my  limbs  down  to  my  feet,  of  my  temples  and  cheek- 
bones, the  anguish  and  uselessness  of  my  hands,  from 
which  the  reins  had  dropped,  were  of  small  consequence 
compared  with  a  chill  which  crept  round  my  heart, 
threatening  a  cessation  of  work. 

There  were  groans  behind  me ;  the  cook  and  Hadji  had 
rolled  off  into  the  snow,  where  Hadji  was  calling  on  Him 
"  who  is  not  far  from  every  one  of  us."  M was  on 


LETTER  vi  HADJI'S  MISFOETUNES  129 

foot.  His  mask  was  frozen  hard.  He  was  using  a 
scientific  instrument,  and  told  his  orderly,  an  Afghan,  a 
smart  little  "  duffadar  "  of  a  crack  Indian  corps,  to  fasten 
a  strap.  The  man  replied  sadly,  "  I  can't,  Sahib."  His 
arms  and  hands  were  useless.  My  mask  was  frozen  to 
my  lips.  The  tears  extorted  from  my  eyes  were  frozen. 
I  was  so  helpless,  and  in  such  torture,  that  I  would  gladly 
have  lain  down  to  die  in  the  snow.  The  mercury  fell 
to  4°. 

After  fighting  the  elements  for  three  hours  and  a  half, 
we  crossed  the  crest  of  the  pass  at  an  altitude  of  7000 
feet,  to  look  down  upon  a  snow  world  stretched  out  every- 
where, pure,  glistering,  awful ;  mountains  rolling  in  snowy 
ranges,  valleys  without  a  trace  of  man,  a  world  of  horror, 
glittering  under  a  mocking  sun. 

Hadji,  with  many  pious  ejaculations,  gasped  out  that 
he  was  dying  (in  fact,  for  some  time  all  speech  had 
been  reduced  to  a  gasp) ;  but  when  we  got  over  the  crest 
there  was  no  more  wind,  and  all  the  benumbed  limbs 
resumed  sensation,  through  an  experience  of  anguish. 

The  road  to  Kangawar  lies  through  a  broad  valley, 
which  has  many  streams.  Among  the  mountains  which 
encompass  it  are  the  Kuh-i-Hassan,  Boka,  the  Kuh-i-Paran, 
and  the  Kuh-i-Bozah.  I  rode  on  with  the  two  servants, 
indulging  in  no  higher  thoughts  than  of  the  comfort  I 
should  have  in  lying  down,  when  just  in  front  of  me 
Hadji  turned  a  somersault,  my  alpenstock  flying  in  one 
direction  and  the  medicine  chest  in  another,  while  he  lay 
motionless,  flat  on  his  back  with  all  his  limbs  stretched 
out,  just  as  soldiers  who  have  been  shot  lie  in  pictures. 
In  getting  to  him  my  mule  went  down  in  a  snow-drift, 
out  of  which  I  extricated  him  with  difficulty.  I  induced 
Hadji,  who  said  his  back  was  broken,  and  was  groaning 
and  calling  on  Allah,  to  get  up,  and  went  on  to  secure  his 
mule,  which  had  the  great  pack-saddle  under  its  body, 
VOL.  i  K 


130  JOUKNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

and  was  kicking  with  all  its  might  at  my  bed  and  "  hold- 
all," which  were  between  its  hind  legs,  and  succeeded  in 
catching  and  holding  it  till  Hadji  came  up.  I  told  him 
to  unfasten  the  surcingle,  for  the  animal  was  wild  with 
the  things  among  its  legs,  and  he  wrung  his  hands  and 
beat  his  breast,  exclaiming,  "  God  is  great !  God  knows  I 
shall  never  see  Bushire  again  ! "  and  was  quite  helpless. 
Seeing  a  caravan  of  asses  approaching,  I  rode  on  as  fast 
as  I  could  to  the  well -situated  little  town  of  Kangawar, 
expecting  him  to  follow  shortly.  At  present  the  entrance 
into  Kangawar  is  up  the  bed  of  a  stream. 

We  had  been  promised  good  accommodation  there, 
and  the  town  could  evidently  afford  it,  but  Abbas  Khan 
had  chosen  something  very  wretched,  though  it  was  up- 
stairs, and  had  an  extensive  snow  view.  Crumbling, 
difficult  stairs  at  each  end  of  a  crumbling  mud  house  led 
to  rooms  which  barely  afforded  a  shelter,  with  a  ruinous 
barn  between,  where  the  servants,  regardless  of  conse- 
quences, kept  up  a  bonfire.  A  man  shovelled  most  of 
the  snow  out  of  my  room,  and  tried  to  make  a  fire  but 
failed,  as  neither  he  nor  I  could  stand  the  smoke  produced 
by  the  attempt.  This  imperfect  shelter  had  a  window- 
frame,  with  three  out  of  its  four  wooden  panes  gone,  and 
a  cracked  door,  which  could  only  ensure  partial  privacy 
by  being  laid  against  the  posts  from  the  outer  landing, 
which  was  a  flat  roof.  The  wall  was  full  of  cracks  big 
enough  for  a  finger,  through  which  the  night  wind  rioted 
in  a  temperature  5°  below  zero. 

There  was  nothing  to  sit  upon,  and  I  walked  up  and 
down  for  two  hours,  half-frozen,  watching  the  straggling 
line  of  the  caravan  as  it  crawled  along  the  valley,  till  the 
sunset  flush  changed  into  the  chill  blue-gray  of  twilight. 
Hadji  arrived  with  it,  having  broken  his  girth  after  I  left 
him.  There  was  not  much  comfort  after  the  severe 
march,  owing  to  the  draughts  and  the  smoke,  but  one  is 


LETTER  vi  KANGAWAR  131 

always  hungry  and  sleepy,  and  the  cybernation  of  the 
insects  makes  up  for  any  minor  discomforts.  It  was 
so  cold  that  some  water  in  a  cup  froze  before  I  could 
drink  it,  and  the  blanket  over  my  face  was  hard  frozen. 

Kangawar  was  full  of  mourning.  The  bodies  of  two 
men  and  a  boy,  who  had  perished  on  the  plain  while  we 
were  struggling  up  the  pass,  had  been  brought  in.  This 
boy  of  twelve  was  "  the  only  son  of  his  mother  and  she 
was  a  widow."  He  had  started  from  Kangawar  in  the 
morning  with  five  asses  laden  with  chopped  straw  to  sell 
for  her,  and  had  miserably  perished.  The  two  men  were 
married,  and  had  left  families. 

Kangawar  is  a  town  of  a  thousand  people  built  below 
a  high  hill,  on  some  natural  and  artificial  mounds.  Some 
traditions  regarding  Semiramis  are  localised  there,  and  it 
is  supposed  to  be  on  the  site  of  Pancobar,  where  she 
erected  a  temple  to  Anaitis  or  Artemis.  Euins  of  a 
fortress,  now  snow -buried,  occupy  the  crest  of  a  hill  above 
the  town,  and  there  are  other  ruins,  regarded  by 
antiquaries  as  Grecian,  representing  a  temple  or  palace, 
"a  vast  building  constructed  of  enormous  blocks  of 
dressed  stone."  Of  these  remains  I  saw  nothing  but 
some  columns  and  a  pilaster,  which  are  built  into  the 
miserable  mud  walls  of  a  house  near  the  bazar. 

At  night  the  muleteers  were  beseeching  on  their 
knees.  They  said  that  they  could  not  go  on,  that  the 
caravan  which  had  attempted  to  leave  Kangawar  in  the 
morning  had  put  back  with  three  corpses,  and  that  they 
and  their  mules  would  perish.  In  the  morning  it  was 
for  some  time  doubtful  whether  they  could  be  induced  or 
bribed  to  proceed.  The  day  was  fine  and  still,  but  they 
said  that  the  snow  was  not  broken.  At  last  they  agreed 
to  start  if  we  would  promise  to  return  at  the  first  breath 
of  wind ! 

Every  resource  against  cold  was  brought  out  and  put 


132  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

on.  One  eye  was  all  that  was  visible  of  the  servants' 
faces.  The  charvadars  relied  on  their  felt  coats  and  raw 
sheepskins,  with  the  fur  inside,  roped  round  their  legs. 
There  is  danger  of  frost-bite  even  with  all  precautions. 
In  addition  to  double  woollen  underclothing  I  put  on  a 
pair  of  thick  Chitral  socks  over  two  pairs  of  woollen 
stockings,  and  over  these  a  pair  of  long,  loose  Afghan 
boots,  made  of  sheepskin  with  the  fur  inside.  Over  my 
riding  dress,  which  is  of  flannel  lined  with  heavy  homespun, 
I  had  a  long  homespun  jacket,  an  Afghan  sheepskin  coat,  a 
heavy  fur  cloak  over  my  knees,  and  a  stout  "  regulation  " 
waterproof  to  keep  out  the  wind.  Add  to  this  a  cork 
helmet,  a  fisherman's  hood,  a  "  six-ply  "  mask,  two  pairs  of 
woollen  gloves  with  mittens  and  double  gauntlets,  and 
the  difficulty  of  mounting  and  dismounting  for  a  person 
thus  swaddled  may  be  imagined  !  The  Persians  are  all  in 
cotton  clothes. 

However,  though  they  have  no  "  firesides,"  and  no 
cheerful  crackle  and  blaze  of  wood,  they  have  an  ar- 
rangement by  which  they  can  keep  themselves  warm 
for  hours  by  the  expenditure  of  a  few  handfuls  of  animal 
fuel.  The  fire  hole  or  tdndur  in  the  middle  of  the 
floor  is  an  institution.  It  is  circular,  narrows  some- 
what at  the  top  and  bottom,  has  a  flue  leading  to  the 
bottom  from  the  outside,  and  is  about  three  feet  deep 
and  two  in  diameter.  It  is  smoothly  lined  with  clay 
inside. 

Over  this  is  the  Jcarsi  or  platform,  a  skeleton  wooden 
frame  like  an  inverted  table,  from  two  to  five  feet  square, 
covered  with  blankets  or  a  thickly-wadded  cotton  quilt, 
which  extends  four  or  five  feet  beyond  it.  Cushions  are 
placed  under  this,  and  the  women  huddle  under  it  all 
day,  and  the  whole  family  at  night,  and  in  this  weather 
all  day — the  firepot  in  the  hole  giving  them  comfortable 
warmth  both  for  sleeping  and  waking.  They  very  rarely 


LETTER  vi  THE  FATE  OF  A  CARAVAN  133 

wash,  and  the  karsi  is  so  favourable  for  the  develop- 
ment of  vermin  that  I  always  hurry  it  out  of  the  room 
when  I  enter.  So  excellent  and  economical  is  the 
contrivance,  that  a  tandur  in  which  the  fire  has  not 
been  replenished  for  eighteen  hours  has  still  a  genial 
heat. 

It  was  a  serious  start,  so  terribly  slippery  in  the 
heaped -up  alleys  and  uncovered  bazars  of  Kangawar 
that  several  of  the  mules  and  men  fell.  Outside  the 
town  was  a  level  expanse  of  deep,  wrinkled,  drifted, 
wavy,  scintillating  snow,  unbroken  except  for  a  rut  about 
a  foot  wide,  a  deep  long  "mule  ladder,"  produced  by 
heavily-laden  mules  and  asses  each  stepping  in  its 
predecessor's  footsteps,  forming  short,  deep  corrugations, 
in  which  it  is  painful  and  tedious  for  horses  or  lightly- 
laden  animals  to  walk.  For  nine  hours  we  marched 
through  this  corrugated  rut. 

Leaving  on  the  left  the  summer  route  to  Tihran 
vid  Hamadan,  which  is  said  to  have  been  blocked 
for  twenty  days,  we  embarked  upon  a  glittering  plain 
covered  with  pure  snow,  varying  in  depth  from  two  feet 
on  the  level  to  ten  and  fifteen  in  the  drifts,  crossed  by 
a  narrow  and  only  slightly  beaten  track. 

Ere  long  we  came  on  solemn  traces  of  the  struggle  and 
defeat  of  the  day  before :  every  now  and  then  a  load  of 
chopped  straw  thrown  away,  then  the  deep  snow  much 
trampled,  then  the  snow  dug  away  and  piled  round  a 
small  space,  in  which  the  charvadars  had  tried  to  shelter 
themselves  from  the  wind  as  the  shadows  of  death  fell, 
then  more  straw,  and  a  grave  under  a  high  mound  of 
snow ;  farther  on  some  men  busy  burying  one  of  the 
bodies.  The  air  was  still,  and  the  sun  shone  as  it  had 
shone  the  day  before  on  baffled  struggles,  exhaustion,  and 
death.  The  trampling  of  the  snow  near  the  track 
marked  the  place  where  the  caravan  had  turned,  taking 


134  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

three  out  of  the  five  bodies  back  to  Kangawar.  The 
fury  with  which  the  wind  had  swept  over  the  plain  was 
shown  by  the  absolute  level  to  which  it  had  reduced  the 
snow,  the  deep  watercourses  being  filled  up  with  the 
drifts. 

After  crossing  a  brick  bridge,  and  passing  the  nearly 
buried  village  of  Hussenabad,  we  rode  hour  after  hour 
along  a  rolling  track  among  featureless  hills,  till  in  the 
last  twilight  -we  reached  the  village  of  Pharipah,  a  low- 
lying  place  (  "  low-lying "  must  never  be  understood  to 
mean  anything  lower  than  5000  feet)  among  some 
frozen  irrigated  lands  and  watered  gardens.  I  arrived 
nearly  dead  from  cold,  fatigue,  and  the  severe  pains  in 
the  joints  which  are  produced  by  riding  nine  hours  at  a 
foot's  pace  in  a  temperature  of  20°.  My  mule  could  only 
be  urged  on  by  spurring,  and  all  the  men  and  animals 
were  in  a  state  of  great  fatigue.  My  room  was  very 
cold,  as  much  of  one  side  was  open  to  the  air,  and  a  fire 
was  an  impossibility. 

Except  for  the  crossing  of  a  pass  with  an  altitude  of 
7500  feet,  the  next  day's  route  was  monotonous,  across 
plains,  among  mountains,  all  pure  white,  the  only  in- 
cidents being  that  my  chair  was  broken  by  the  fall  of  a 
mule,  and  that  my  mule  and  I  went  over  our  heads  in  a 
snow-drift.  The  track  was  very  little  broken,  and  I  was 
four  hours  in  doing  ten  miles. 

Hamilabad  is  a  village  of  about  sixty  mud  hovels,  and 
in  common  with  all  these  mountain  hamlets  has  sloping 
covered  ways  leading  to  pens  under  the  house,  where 
cattle,  sheep,  and  goats  spend  much  of  the  winter  in 
darkness  and  warmth. 

I  have  a  house,  i,e.  a  mud  room,  to  myself.  These 
two  days  I  have  had  rather  a  severe  chill,  after  getting 
in,  including  a  shivering  lasting  about  two  hours, 
perhaps  owing  to  the  severe  fatigue;  and  I  was  lying 


LETTER  vi  ABBAS  KHAN  135 

down  with  the  blankets  over  my  face  and  was  just 
getting  warm  when  I  heard  much  buzzing  about  me, 
and  looking  up  saw  the  room  thronged  with  men,  women, 
and  children,  just  such  a  crowd  as  constantly  besieged 
our  blessed  Lord  when  the  toilsome  day  full  of  "the 
contradiction  of  sinners  against  Himself"  was  done, 
most  of  them  ill  of  "  divers  diseases  and  torments," 
smallpox,  rheumatism,  ulcers  on  the  cornea,  abortive  and 
shortened  limbs,  decay  of  the  bones  of  the .  nose,  palate, 
and  cheek,  tumours,  cancers,  skin  maladies,  ophthalmia, 
opaque  films  over  the  eyes,  wounds,  and  many  ailments 
too  obscure  for  my  elementary  knowledge.  Nothing  is 
more  painful  than  to  be  obliged  to  say  that  one  cannot 
do  anything  for  them. 

I  had  to  get  up,  and  for  nearly  two  hours  was  hear- 
ing their  tales  of  suffering,  interpreted  by  Hadji  with 
brutal  frankness ;  and  they  crowded  my  room  again  this 
morning.  All  I  could  do  was  to  make  various  ointments, 
taking  tallow  as  the  basis,  drop  lotion  into  some  eyes, 
give  a  few  simple  medicines,  and  send  the  majority  sadly 
away.  The  sowar,  Abbas  Khan,  is  responsible  for  spread- 
ing my  fame  as  a  Hakim.  He  is  being  cured  of  a  severe 
cough,  and  comes  to  my  room  for  medicine  (in  which  I 
have  no  faith)  every  evening,  a  lean  man  with  a  lean 
face,  lighted  with  a  rapacious  astuteness,  with  a  kaftan 
streaming  from  his  brow,  except  where  it  is  roped 
round  his  shaven  skull,  a  zouave  jacket,  a  skirt  something 
like  a  kilt,  but  which  stands  out  like  a  ballet  dancer's 
dress,  all  sorts  of  wrappings  round  his  legs,  a  coarse 
striped  red  shirt,  a  double  cartridge-belt,  and  a  perfect 
armoury  in  his  girdle  of  pistols  and  knives.  He  is  a  wit 
and  a  rogue/  Dogs,  deprived  of  their  usual  shelter,  shook 
my  loose  door  at  intervals  all  night.  This  morning  is 
gray,  and  looks  like  change. 

Nanej,  Feb.  9. — It  was  thawing,  and  the  march  here 


136  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

was  very  soft  and  splashy.  The  people  are  barbarous  in 
their  looks,  speech,  manners,  and  ways  of  living,  and  have 
a  total  disregard  of  cleanliness  of  person,  clothing,  and 
dwellings.  Whether  they  are  actually  too  poor  to  have 
anything  warmer  than  cotton  clothing,  or  whether  they 
have  buried  hoards  I  do  not  know;  but  even  in  this 
severe  weather  the  women  of  this  region  have  nothing  on 
their  feet,  and  their  short  blue  cotton  trousers,  short,  loose, 
open  jackets,  short  open  chemises,  and  the  thin  blue  sheet 
or  chadar  over  their  heads,  are  a  mere  apology  for  clothing. 

The  journey  yesterday  was  through  rolling  hills,  en- 
closing level  plains  much  cultivated,  with  villages  upon 
them  mostly  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  road.  I 
passed  through  two,  one  larger  and  less  decayed  than 
usual,  but  fearfully  filthy,  and  bisected  by  a  foul  stream, 
from  which  people  were  drinking  and  drawing  water. 
Near  this  is  a  lofty  mound,  a  truncated  cone,  with  some 
"  Cyclopean "  masonry  on  its  summit,  the  relics  of  a  fire 
temple  of  the  Magi.  Another  poorer  and  yet  filthier 
village  was  passed  through,  where  a  man  was  being 
buried ;  and  as  I  left  Hamilabad  in  the  morning,  a  long 
procession  was  escorting  a  corpse  to  its  icy  grave,  laid  on 
its  bedding  on  a  bier,  both  these  deaths  being  from  small- 
pox, which,  though  very  prevalent,  is  not  usually  fatal, 
and  seldom  attacks  adults.  Indeed,  it  is  regarded  as  a 
childish  malady,  and  is  cured  by  a  diet  of  melons  and  by 
profuse  perspirations. 

A  higher  temperature  had  turned  the  path  to  slush, 
and  made  the  crossing  of  the  last  plain  very  tedious. 
This  is  an  abominable  village,  and  the  thaw  is  revealing 
a  state  of  matters  which  the  snow  would  have  concealed ; 
but  it  has  been  a  severe  week's  journey,  and  I  am  glad 
of  Sunday's  rest  even  here.  It  is  a  disheartening  place. 
I  dismounted  in  one  yard,  in  slush  up  to  my  knees, 
and  from  this  splashed  into  another,  round  which  are 


LETTER  vi  FEMALE  SYMPATHY  137 

stables,  cowsheds,  and  rooms  which  were  vacated  by  the 
ketchuda  and  his  family,  but  only  partially,  as  the  women 
not  only  left  all  their  "  things  "  in  my  room,  but  had  a 
godown  or  storehouse  through  it,  to  which  they  resorted 
continually.  I  felt  ill  yesterday,  and  put  on  a  blister, 
which  rendered  complete  rest  desirable ;  but  it  is  not  to 
be  got.  The  room  filled  with  women  as  soon  as  I  settled 
myself  in  it. 

They  told  me  at  once  that  I  could  not  have  a  fire 
unless  I  had  it  under  the  karsi,  that  the  smoke  would 
be  unbearable.  When  I  asked  them  to  leave  me  to  rest, 
they  said,  "  There's  no  shame  in  having  women  in  the 

house."     M came  an  hour  later  and  cleared  the  room, 

but  as  soon  as  he  went  away  it  filled  again,  and  with 
men  as  well  as  women,  and  others  unscrupulously  tore 
out  the  paper  panes  from  the  windows.  This  afternoon 
I  stayed  in  bed  feeling  rather  ill,  and  about  three  o'clock 
a  number  of  women  in  blue  sheets,  with  a  very  definite 
leader,  came  in,  arranged  the  karsi,  filling  the  room  with 
smoke,  as  a  preliminary,  gathered  themselves  under  the 
quilt,  and  sat  there  talking  loudly  to  each  other.  I  felt 
myself  the  object  of  a  focused  stare,  and  covered  my 
head  with  a  blanket  in  despair.  Then  more  women 
came  in  with  tea-trays,  and  they  all  took  tea  and  sat  for 
another  hour  or  two  talking  and  tittering,  Hadji  assur- 
ing me  that  they  were  doing  it  out  of  kindness,  because 
I  was  not  well,  and  they  thought  it  dull  for  me  alone ! 
The  room  was  again  cleared,  and  I  got  up  at  dark,  and 
hearing  a  great  deal  of  whispering  and  giggling,  saw  that 
they  had  opened  the  door  windows,  and  that  a  crowd 
was  outside.  When  I  woke  this  morning  a  man  was 
examining  my  clothes,  which  were  hanging  up.  They 
feel  and  pull  my  hair,  finger  all  my  things,  and  have 
broken  all  the  fine  teeth  out  of  my  comb.  They  have 
the  curiosity  without  the  gracefulness  of  the  Japanese. 


138  JOURNEYS  IN  PEESIA  LETTER  vi 

This  is  a  house  of  the  better  sort,  though  the  walls 
are  not  plastered.  A  carpet  loom  is  fixed  into  the  floor 
with  a  half- woven  carpet  upon  it.  Some  handsome  rugs 
are  laid  down.  There  are  two  much-decorated  marriage 
chests,  some  guns  and  swords,  a  quantity  of  glass  tea- 
cups and  ornaments  in  the  recesses,  and  coloured  wood- 
cuts of  the  Eussian  Imperial  family,  here,  as  in  almost 
every  house,  are  on  the  walls. 

There  is  great  rejoicing  to-night  "  for  joy  that  a  man 
is  born  into  the  world,"  the  first-born  of  the  ketchuda's 
eldest  son.  In  their  extreme  felicity  they  took  me  to  see 
the  mother  and  babe.  The  room  was  very  hot,  and 
crowded  with  relations  and  friends.  The  young  mother 
was  sitting  up  on  her  bed  on  the  floor  and  the  infant  lay 
beside  her  dressed  in  swaddling  clothes.  She  looked 
very  happy  and  the  young  father  very  proud.  I  added 
a  small  offering  to  the  many  which  were  brought  in  for 
luck,  and  it  was  not  rejected. 

A  sword  was  brought  from  my  room,  and  with  it  the 
mamachg  traced  a  line  upon  the  four  walls,  repeating  a 
formula  which  I  understood  to  be,  "  I  am  making  this 
tower  for  Miriam  and  her  child." l  I  was  warned  by 
Hadji  not  to  look  on  the  child  or  to  admire  him  without 
saying  "  Mashallah,"  lest  I  should  bring  on  him  the  woe 
of  the  evil  eye.  So  greatly  is  it  feared,  that  precautions 
are  invariably  taken  against  it  from  the  hour  of  birth, 
by  bestowing  amulets  and  charms  upon  the  child.  A 
paragraph  of  the  Koran,  placed  in  a  silk  bag,  had  already 
been  tied  round  the  infant's  neck.  Later,  he  will  wear 
another  bag  round  his  arm,  and  turquoise  or  blue  beads 
will  be  sewn  upon  his  cap. 

If  a  visitor  admires  a  child  without  uttering  the  word 
Mashallah,  and  the  child  afterwards  falls  sick,  the  visitor 

1  This  custom,  supposed  to  be  an  allusion  to  our  Lord  and  His  mother, 
is  described  by  Morier  in  his  Second  Journey  in  Persia. 


LETTER  vi  A  NAME-DAY  CEREMONY  139 

at  once  is  regarded  as  answerable  for  the  calamity,  and 
the  relations  take  a  shred  of  his  garment,  and  burn  it  in 
a  brazier  with  cress  seed,  walking  round  and  round  the 
child  as  it  burns. 

Persian  mothers  are  regarded  as  convalescent  on  the 
third  day,  when  they  go  to  the  hammam  to  perform  the 
ceremonies  required  by  Moslem  law.  A  boy  is  weaned 
at  the  end  of  twenty-six  months  and  a  girl  at  the  end 
of  twenty-four.  If  possible,  on  the  weaning  day  the  child 
is  carried  to  the  mosque,  and  certain  devotions  are 
performed.  The  weaning  feast  is  an  important  function, 
and  the  relations  and  friends  assemble,  bringing  presents, 
and  the  child  in  spite  of  his  reluctance  is  forced  to 
partake  of  the  food. 

At  the  earliest  possible  period  the  mamacM  pronounces 
in  the  infant's  ear  the  Shiah  profession  of  faith  :  "  God  is 
God,  there  is  but  one  God,  and  Mohammed  is  the  Prophet 
of  God,  and  Ali  is  the  Lieutenant  of  God."  A  child 
becomes  a  Moslem  as  soon  as  this  Kelemah  Islam  has 
been  spoken  into  his  ear;  but  a  ceremony  attends  the 
bestowal  of  his  name,  which  resembles  that  in  use 
among  the  Buddhists  of  Tibet  on  similar  occasions. 

Unless  the  father  be  very  poor  indeed,  he  makes  a 
feast  for  his  friends  on  an  auspicious  day,  and  invites  the 
village  mollahs.  Sweatmeats  are  solemnly  eaten  after  the 
guests  have  assembled.  Then  the  infant,  stiffened  and 
mummied  in  its  swaddling  clothes,  is  brought  in,  and  is 
laid  on  the  floor  by  one  of  the  mollahs.  Five  names  are 
written  on  five  slips  of  paper,  which  are  placed  between 
the  leaves  of  the  Koran,  or  under  the  edge  of  the  carpet. 
The  first  chapter  of  the  Koran  is  then  read.  One  of  the 
slips  is  then  drawn  at  random,  and  a  mollah  takes  up  the 
child,  and  pronounces  in  its  ear  the  name  found  upon  it, 
after  which  he  places  the  paper  on  its  clothes. 

The  relations  and  friends  give  it  presents  according  to 


140  JOUKNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

their  means,  answering  to  our  christening  gifts,  and 
thereafter  it  is  called  by  the  name  it  has  received. 
Among  men's  names  there  is  a  preponderance  of  those 
taken  from  the  Old  Testament,  among  which  Ibrahim, 
Ismail,  Suleiman,  Yusuf,  and  Moussa  are  prominent. 
Abdullah,  Mahmoud,  Hassan,  Kaouf,  Baba  Houssein,  Imam 
are  also  common,  and  many  names  have  the  suffix  of  Ali 
among  the  Shiahs.  Fatmeh  is  a  woman's  name,  but  girl- 
children  usually  receive  the  name  of  some  flower  or  bird, 
or  fascinating  quality  of  disposition  or  person. 

The  journey  is  beginning  to  tell  on  men  and  animals. 
One  of  the  Arab  horses  has  had  a  violent  attack  of  pain 
from  the  cold,  and  several  of  the  men  are  ailing  and  depressed. 

Dizdbad,  Feb.  11. — Nanej  is  the  last  village  laid  down 
on  any  map  on  the  route  we  are  taking  for  over  a  hundred 
miles,  i.e.  until  we  reach  Kum,  though  it  is  a  caravan 
route,  and  it  does  not  appear  that  any  Europeans  have  pub- 
lished any  account  of  it.  Just  now  it  is  a  buried  country, 
for  the  snow  is  lying  from  one  to  four  feet  deep.  It  is 
not  even  possible  to  pronounce  any  verdict  on  the  roads, 
for  they  are  simply  deep  ruts  in  the  snow,  with  "  mule 
ladders."  The  people  say  that  the  plains  are  irrigated 
and  productive,  and  that  the  hills  pasture  their  sheep  and 
cattle ;  and  they  all  complain  of  the  exactions  of  local 
officials.  There  is  no  variety  in  costume,  and  very  little 
in  dwellings,  except  as  to  size,  for  they  are  all  built  of 
mud  or  sun-dried  bricks,  within  cattle  yards,  and  have 
subterranean  pens  for  cattle  and  goats.  The  people  abound 
in  diseases,  specially  of  the  eyes  and  bones. 

The  salient  features  of  the  hills,  if  they  have  any,  are 
rounded  off  by  snow,  and  though  many  of  them  rise  to 
a  great  height,  none  are  really  impressive  but  Mount 
Elwand,  close  to  Hamadan.  The  route  is  altogether 
hilly,  but  the  track  pursues  valleys  and  low  passes  as 
much  as  possible,  and  is  never  really  steep. 


LETTER  vi         CROSSING  A  WATER-PARTING  141 

Yesterday  we  marched  twenty-four  miles  in  eight 
hours  without  any  incident,  and  the  "heavy  division" 
took  thirteen  hours,  and  did  not  come  in  till  ten  at  night ! 
There  are  round  hills,  agglomerated  into  ranges,  with  easy 
passes,  the  highest  7026  feet  in  altitude,  higher  summits 
here  and  there  in  view,  the  hills  encircling  level  plains, 
sprinkled  sparsely  with  villages  at  a  distance  from  the 
road,  denoted  by  scrubby  poplars  and  willows  ;  sometimes 
there  is  a  kanaat  or  underground  irrigation  channel  with  a 
line  of  pits  or  shafts,  but  whatever  there  was,  or  was  not,  it 
was  always  lonely,  grim,  and  desolate.  The  strong  winds 
have  blown  some  of  the  hillsides  bare,  and  they  appear 
in  all  their  deformity  of  shapeless  mounds  of  black  gravel, 
or  black  mud,  with  relics  of  last  year's  thistles  and 
euphorbias  upon  them.  So  great  is  the  destitution  of 
fuel  that  even  now  people  are  out  cutting  the  stalks  of 
thistles  which  appear  above  the  snow. 

As  the  hours  went  by,  I  did  rather  wish  for  the 
smashed  Jcajawehs,  especially  when  we  met  the  ladies  of 
a  governor's  haram,  to  the  number  of  thirty,  reclining 
snugly  in  pairs,  among  blankets  and  cushions,  in  panniers 
with  tilts,  and  curtains  of  a  thick  material,  dyed  Turkey 
red.  The  cold  became  very  severe  towards  evening. 

The  geographical  interest  of  the  day  was  that  we 
crossed  the  watershed  of  the  region,  and  have  left  behind 
the  streams  which  eventually  reach  the  sea,  all  future 
rivers,  however  great  their  volume,  or  impetuous  their 
flow,  disappearing  at  last  in  what  the  Americans  call 
"  sinks,"  but  which  are  known  in  Persia  as  kavirs,  usually 
salt  swamps.  Near  sunset  we  crossed  a  bridge  of  seven 
pointed  arches  with  abutments  against  a  rapid  stream, 
and  passing  a  great  gaunt  caravanserai  on  an  eminence, 
and  a  valley  to  the  east  of  the  bridge  with  a  few  villages 
giving  an  impression  of  fertility,  hemmed  in  by  some 
shapely  mountains,  we  embarked  on  a  level  plain, 


142  JOUKNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

bounded  on  all  sides  by  hills  so  snowy  that  not  a  brown 
patch  or  outbreak  of  rock  spotted  their  whiteness,  and 
with  villages  and  caravanserais  scattered  thinly  over 
it.  On  the  left,  there  are  the  extensive  ruins  of  old 
Dizabad,  and  a  great  tract  of  forlorn  graves  clustering 
round  a  crumbling  imamzada. 

As  the  sun  sank  the  distant  hills  became  rose-flushed, 
and  then  one  by  one  the  flush  died  off  into  the  paleness 
of  death,  and  in  the  gathering  blue-gray  ness,  in  desola- 
tion without  sublimity,  in  ghastliness,  impressive  but  only 
by  force  of  ghastliness,  and  in  benumbing  cold,  we  rode 
into  this  village,  and  into  a  yard  encumbered  with  mighty 
piles  of  snow,  on  one  side  of  which  I  have  a  wretched 
room,  though  the  best,  with  two  doors,  which  do  not  shut,  but 
when  they  are  closed  make  it  quite  dark — a  deep,  damp,  cob- 
webby, dusty,  musty  lair  like  a  miserable  eastern  cowshed. 

I  was  really  half -frozen  and  quite  benumbed,  and 
though  I  had  plenty  of  blankets  and  furs,  had  a  long  and 

severe  chill,  and  another  to-day.  M also  has  had 

bad  chills,  and  the  Afghan  orderly  is  ill,  and  moaning 
with  pain  in  the  next  room.  Hadji  has  fallen  into  a  state 
of  chronic  invalidism,  and  is  shaking  with  chills,  his  teeth 
chattering,  and  he  is  calling  on  Allah  whenever  I  am 
within  hearing. 

The  chilly  dampness  and  the  rise  in  temperature 
again  may  have  something  to  do  with  the  ailments,  but 
I  think  that  we  Europeans  are  suffering  from  the  want  of 
nourishing  food.  Meat  has  not  been  attainable  for  some 
days,  the  fowls  are  dry  and  skinny,  and  milk  is  very 
scarce  and  poor.  I  cannot  eat  the  sour  wafers  which 
pass  for  bread,  and  as  Hadji  cannot  boil  rice  or  make 
flour  porridge,  I  often  start  in  the  morning  having  only 
had  a  cup  of  tea.  I  lunch  in  the  saddle  on  dates,  the 
milk  in  the  holsters  having  been  frozen  lately  ;  then  is  the 
time  for  finding  the  value  of  a  double  peppermint  lozenge ! 


LETTER  vi  BREAKING  A  TRACK  143 

Snow  fell  heavily  last  night,  and  as  the  track  has 
not  been  broken,  and  the  charvadars  dared  not  face  it, 
we  are  detained  in  this  miserable  place,  four  other 
caravans  sharing  our  fate.  The  pros  and  cons  about 
starting  were  many,  and  Abbas  Khan  was  sent  on  horse- 
back to  reconnoitre,  but  he  came  back  like  Noah's  dove, 
reporting  that  it  was  a  trackless  waste  of  snow  outside. 
It  is  a  day  of  rest,  but  as  the  door  has  to  be  open  on 
the  snow  to  let  in  light,  my  hands  are  benumbed  with 
the  damp  cold.  Still,  a  bowl  of  Edwards'  desiccated  soup — 
the  best  of  all  travelling  soups — has  been  very  reviving, 
and  though  I  have  had  a  severe  chill  again,  I  do  not  mean 
to  succumb.  I  do  not  dwell  on  the  hardships,  but  they 
are  awful.  The  soldiers  and  servants  all  have  bad 
coughs,  and  dwindle  daily.  The  little  orderly  is  so  ill 
to-day  that  we  could  not  have  gone  on  even  had  the  track 
been  broken. 

Saruk,  Feb.  12. — Unladen  asses,  followed  by  unladen 
mules,  were  driven  along  to  break  the  track  this  morning, 
and  as  two  caravans  started  before  us,  it  was  tolerable, 
though  very  deep.  The  solitude  and  desolation  were 
awful.  At  first  the  snow  was  somewhat  thawed,  but 
soon  it  became  immensely  deep,  and  we  had  to  plunge 
through  hollows  from  which  the  beasts  extricated  them- 
selves with  great  difficulty  and  occasionally  had  to  be 
unloaded'and  reloaded. 

As  I  mentioned  in  writing  of  an  earlier  march,  it  is 
difficult  and  even  dangerous  to  pass  caravans  when  the 
only  road  is  a  deep  rut  a  foot  wide,  and  we  had  most 
tedious  experience  of  it  to-day,  when  some  of  our  men, 
weakened  by  illness,  were  not  so  patient  as  usual. 
Abbas  Khan  and  the  orderly  could  hardly  sit  on  their 
horses,  and  Hadji  rolled  off  his  mule  at  intervals.  As 
the  charvadars  who  give  way  have  their  beasts  flounder- 
ing in  the  deep  snow  and  losing  their  loads,  both 


144  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

attempt  to  keep  the  road,  the  result  of  which  is  a  violent 
collision.  The  two  animals  which  "  collide  "  usually  go 
down,  and  some  of  the  others  come  on  the  top  of  them, 
and  to-day  at  one  time  there  were  eight,  struggling  heels 
uppermost  in  the  deep  snow,  all  to  be  reloaded. 

This  led  to  a  serious  mSlSe.  The  rival  charvadar, 
aggravated  by  Hadji,  struck  him  on  the  head,  and  down  he 
went  into  the  snow,  with  his  mule  apparently  on  the  top 
of  him,  and  his  load  at  some  distance.  The  same  charvadar 
seized  the  halters  of  several  of  our  mules,  and  drove 
them  into  the  snow,  where  they  all  came  to  grief.  Our 
charvadar,  whose  blue  eyes,  auburn  hair  and  beard, 
and  exceeding  beauty,  always  bring  to  mind  a  sacred 
picture,  became  furious  at  this,  and  there  was  a 

fierce  fight  among  the  men  (M being  ahead)  and 

much  bad  language,  such  epithets  as  "  sou  of  a  dog  "  and 
"  sons  of  burnt  fathers "  being  freely  bandied  about. 
The  fray  at  last  died  out,  leaving  as  its  result  only  the 
loss  of  an  hour,  some  broken  surcingles,  and  some  bleed- 
ing faces.  Even  Hadji  rose  from  his  "gory  bed"  not 
much  worse,  though  he  had  been  hit  hard. 

There  was  no  more  quarrelling  though  we  passed  several 
caravans,  but  even  when  the  men  were  reasonable  and 
good  nature  prevailed  some  of  the  mules  on  both  sides 
fell  in  the  snow  and  had  to  be  reloaded.  When  the 
matter  is  not  settled  as  this  was  by  violence*,  a  good 
deal  of  shouting  and  roaring  culminates  in  an  under- 
standing that  one  caravan  shall  draw  off  into  a  place 
where  the  snow  is  shallowest,  and  stand  still  till  the 
other  has  gone  past;  but  to-day  scarcely  a  shallow  place 
could  be  found.  I  always  give  place  to  asses,  rather 
to  avoid  a  painful  spectacle  than  from  humanity.  One 
step  off  the  track  and  down  they  go,  and  they  never  get 
up  without  being  unloaded. 

When  we  left  Dizabad  the  mist  was  thick,  and  as  it 


LETTER  vi  CHANGING  HOESES  145 

cleared  it  froze  in  crystallised  buttons,  which  covered 
the  surface  of  the  snow,  but  lifting  only  partially  it 
revealed  snowy  summits,  sun -lit  above  heavy  white 
clouds;  then  when  we  reached  a  broad  plateau,  the 
highest  plain  of  the  journey,  7800  feet  in  altitude,  gray 
mists  drifted  very  near  us,  and  opening  in  rifts  divulged 
blackness,  darkness,  and  tempest,  and  ragged  peaks 
exposed  to  the  fury  of  a  snowstorm.  Snow  fell  in 
showers  on  the  plain,  and  it  was  an  anxious  time,  for 
had  the  storm  which  seemed  impending  burst  on  that 
wild,  awful,  shelterless  expanse,  with  tired  animals,  and 
every  landmark  obliterated,  some  of  us  must  have 
perished.  I  have  done  a  great  deal  of  snow  travelling, 
and  know  how  soon  every  trace  of  even  the  widest  and 
deepest  path  is  effaced  by  drift,  much  more  the  narrow 
rut  by  which  we  were  crossing  this  most  exposed 
plateau.  There  was  not  a  village  in  sight  the  whole 
march,  no  birds,  no  animals.  There  was  not  a  sound 
but  the  venomous  hiss  of  snow-laden  squalls.  It  was 
"  the  dead  of  winter." 

My  admirable  mule  was  ill  of  cold  from  having  my 
small  saddle  on  him  instead  of  his  great  stuffed  pack- 
saddle,  the  charvadar  said,  and  he  gave  me  instead  a 
horse  that  I  could  not  ride.  Such  a  gait  I  never  felt ; 
less  than  half  a  mile  was  unbearable.  I  felt  as  if  my 
eyes  would  be  shaken  out  of  their  sockets !  The  bit 
was  changed,  but  in  vain.  I  was  obliged  to  get  off,  and 

M kindly  put  my  saddle  on  a  powerful  Kirmanshah 

Arab.  I  soon  found  that  my  intense  fatigue  on  this 
journey  had  been  caused  by  riding  mules,  which  have 
no  elasticity  of  movement.  I  rode  twenty  miles  to-day 
with  ease,  and  could  have  ridden  twenty  more,  and  had 
several  canters  on  the  few  places  where  the  snow  was 
well  trodden. 

I  was  off   the   track    trying    to    get    past  a  caravan 
VOL.  i  L 


146  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

and  overtake  the  others,  when  down  came  the  horse  and 
I  in  a  drift  fully  ten  feet  deep.  Somehow  I  was  not 
quite  detached  from  the  saddle,  and  in  the  scrimmage 
got  into  it  again,  and  a  few  desperate  plunges  brought  us 
out,  with  the  horse's  breastplate  broken. 

When  we  reached  the  great  plateau  above  this  village, 
a  great  blank  sheet  of  snow,  surrounded  by  mountains, 
now  buried  in  white  mists,  now  revealed,  with  snow 
flurries  drifting  wildly  round  their  ghastly  heads,  I  found 
that  the  Arab,  the  same  horse  which  was  so  ill  at  Nanej, 
was  "  dead  beat,"  and  as  it  only  looked  a  mile  to  the 
village  I  got  off,  and  walked  in  the  deep  snow  along  the 
rungs  of  the  "  mule  ladders,"  which  are  so  fatiguing  for 
horses.  But  the  distance  was  fully  three  miles,  with  a 
stream  to  wade  through,  half  a  mile  of  deep  wet  soil  to 
plunge  through,  and  the  thawed  mud  of  a  large  village  to 
splash  through ;  and  as  I  dared  not  mount  again  for  fear 
of  catching  cold,  I  trailed  forlornly  into  Saruk,  following 
the  men  who  were  riding. 

Can  it  be  said  that  they  rode  ?  They  sat  feebly  on 
animals,  swaddled  in  felts  and  furs,  the  pagri  concealing 
each  face  with  the  exception  of  one  eye  in  a  blue 
goggle ;  rolling  from  side  to  side,  clutching  at  ropes  and 
halters,  moaning  "Ya  Allah !" — a  deplorable  cavalcade. 

Saruk  has  some  poplars,  and  is  surrounded  by  a 
ruinous  mud  wall.  It  is  a  village  of  150  houses,  and  is 
famous  for  very  fine  velvety  carpets,  of  small  patterns, 
in  vivid  vegetable  dyes.  At  an  altitude  of  7500  feet,  it 
has  a  severe  climate,  and  only  grows  wheat  and  barley, 
sown  in  April  and  reaped  in  September.  All  this 
mountainous  region  that  we  are  toiling  through  is  blank 
on  the  maps,  and  may  be  a  dead  level  so  far  as  anything 
there  is  represented,  though  even  its  passes  are  in  several 
cases  over  7000  feet  high. 

Saruk,  Feb.    13. — The    circumstances    generally    are 


LETTER  vi  HARDSHIPS  AT  SARUK  147 

unfavourable,  and  we  are  again  detained.  The  Afghan 
orderly,  who  is  also  interpreter,  is  very  ill,  and  though 
he  is  very  plucky  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  move ;  the 
cook  seems  "  all  to  pieces,"  and  is  overcome  by  cough 
and  lassitude ;  Abbas  Khan  is  ill,  and  his  face  has  lost 
its  comicality;  and  in  the  same  room  Hadji  lies,  groaning 
and  moaning  that  he  will  not  live  through  the  night. 

Even  M 's  herculean  strength  is  not  what  it  was. 

I  have  chills,  but  in  spite  of  them  and  the  fatigue 
am  really  much  better  than  when  I  left  Baghdad, 
so  that  though  I  exercise  the  privilege  of  grumbling  at 
the  hardships,  I  ought  not  to  complain  of  them,  though 
they  are  enough  to  break  down  the  strongest  men.  I 
really  like  the  journey,  except  when  I  am  completely 
knocked  up,  or  the  smoke  is  exceptionally  blinding. 

The  snow  in  this  yard  is  lying  in  masses  twelve  feet 
high,  rising  out  of  slush  I  do  not  know  how  many  feet 
deep.  It  looks  as  if  we  had  seen  the  last  of  the  winter. 
The  mercury  is  at  32°  now.  It  is  very  damp  and  cold 
sitting  in  a  room  with  one  side  open  to  the  snow,  and 
the  mud  floor  all  slush  from  the  drip  from  the  roof. 
The  fuel  is  wet,  and  though  a  man  has  attempted  four 
times  to  light  a  fire,  he  has  only  succeeded  in  making 
an  overpowering  smoke,  which  prefers  hanging  heavily 
over  the  floor  and  me  to  making  its  exit  through  the 
hole  in  the  roof  provided  for  it.  The  door  must  be  kept 
open  to  let  in  •  light,  and  it  also  lets  in  fowls  and  many 
cats.  My  dhurrie  has  been  trampled  into  the  slush,  and 
a  deadly  cold  strikes  up  through  it.  Last  night  a  man 
(for  Hadji  was  hors  de  combat)  brought  in  some  live 
embers,  and  heaped  some  gum  tragacanth  thorns  and 
animal  fuel  upon  them ;  there  was  no  chimney,  and  the 
hole  in  the  roof  was  stopped  by  a  clod.  The  result  was 
unbearable.  I  covered  my  head  with  blankets,  but  it 
was  still  blinding  and  stifling,  and  I  had  to  extinguish 


148  JOUKNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

the  fire  with  water  and  bear  the  cold,  which  then  was 
about  20°.  Later,  there  was  a  tempest  of  snow  and 
rain,  with  a  sudden  thaw,  and  water  dripped  with  an 
irksome  sound  on  my  well-protected  bed,  no  light  would 
burn,  and  I  had  the  mortification  of  knowing  that  the 
same  drip  was  spoiling  writing  paper  and  stores  which 
had  been  left  open  to  dry !  But  a  traveller  rarely  lies 
awake,  and  to-day  by  keeping  my  feet  on  a  box,  and 
living  in  a  mackintosh,  I  am  out  of  both  drip  and  mud. 
Such  a  room  as  I  am  now  in  is  the  ordinary  room  of  a 
Persian  homestead.  It  is  a  cell  of  mud,  not  brick,  either 
sun  or  kiln  dried.  Its  sides  are  cracked  and  let  in  air. 
Its  roof  is  mud,  under  which  is  some  brushwood  lying 
over  the  rafters.  It  has  no  light  holes,  but  as  the  door 
has  shrunk  considerably  from  the  door  posts,  it  is  not 
absolutely  dark.  It  may  be  about  twelve  feet  square. 
Every  part  of  it  is  blackened  by  years  of  smoke. 
The  best  of  it  is  that  it  is  raised  two  feet  from  the 
ground  to  admit  of  a  fowl-house  below,  and  opens  on  a 
rough  platform  which  runs  in  front  of  all  the  dwelling- 
rooms.  With  the  misfitting  door  and  cracked  sides  it  is 
much  like  a  sieve. 

I  have  waited  to  describe  a  Persian  peasant's  house 
till  I  had  seen  more  of  them.  The  yard  is  an  almost 
unvarying  feature,  whether  a  small  enclosure  with  a  low 
wall  and  a  gateway  closed  at  night  by  a  screen  of  reeds, 
or  a  great  farmyard  like  this,  with  an  arched  entrance 
and  dwelling-rooms  for  two  or  three  generations  along 
one  or  more  of  the  sides. 

The  house  walls  are  built  of  mud,  not  sun-dried  brick, 
and  are  only  one  story  high.  The  soil  near  villages  is 
mostly  mud,  and  by  leading  water  to  a  given  spot,  a  pit  of 
mortar  for  building  material  is  at  once  made.  This  being 
dug  up,  and  worked  to  a  proper  consistency  by  the  feet 
of  men,  is  then  made  into  a  wall,  piece  after  piece  being 


LETTER  vi  PEASANTS'  HOUSES  149 

laid  on  by  hand,  till  it  reaches  a  height  of  four  feet  and 
a  thickness  of  three — the  imperative  tradition  of  the 
Persian  builder.  This  is  allowed  *a  few  days  for  harden- 
ing, when  another  layer  of  similar  height  but  somewhat 
narrower  is  laid  upon  it,  takchahs  or  recesses  a  foot  deep 
or  more  being  worked  into  the  thickness  of  the  wall,  and 
the  process  is  repeated  till  the  desired  height  is  attained. 
When  the  wall  is  thoroughly  dry  it  is  plastered  inside 
and  outside  with  a  mixture  of  mud  and  chopped  straw, 
and  if  this  plastering  is  repeated  at  intervals,  the  style  of 
construction  is  very  durable. 

The  oven  or  tdndur  is  placed  in  the  floor  of  one  room, 
at  least,  and  answers  for  cooking  and  heating.  A  peasant's 
house  has  no  windows,  and  the  roof  does  not  project 
beyond  the  wall. 

All  roofs  are  flat.  Eude  rafters  of  poplar  are  laid 
across  the  walls  about  two  feet  apart.  In  a  kctchuda's 
or  a  wealthier  peasant's  house,  above  these  are  laid  in  rows 
peeled  poplar  rods,  two  inches  apart,  then  a  rush  mat,  and 
then  the  resinous  thorns  of  the  tragacanth  bush,  which 
are  not  liable  to  decay ;  but  in  the  poorer  houses  the  owner 
contents  himself  with  a  coarse  reed  mat  or  a  layer  of 
brushwood  above  the  rafters.  On  this  is  spread  a  well- 
trodden-down  layer  of  mud,  then  eight  or  ten  inches  of 
dry  earth,  and  the  whole  is  thickly  plastered  with  mixed 
straw  and  mud.  A  slight  slope  at  the  back  with  a  long 
wooden  spout  carries  off  the  water.  Such  a  roof  is  imper- 
vious to  rain  except  in  very  severe  storms  if  kept  in 
order,  that  is,  if  it  be  plastered  once  a  year,  and  well 
rolled  after  rain.  Few  people  are  so  poor  as  not  to  have 
a  neatly-made  stone  roller  on  their  roofs.  If  this  is 
lacking,  the  roof  must  be  well  tramped  after  rain  by  bare 
feet,  and  in  all  cases  the  snow  must  be  shovelled  off. 

These  roofs,  among  the  peasantry,  have  no  parapets. 
They  are  the  paradise  of  dogs,  and  in  hot  weather  the 


150  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

people  take  up  their  beds  and  sleep  there,  partly  for 
coolness  and  partly  because  the  night  breeze  gives 
freedom  from  mosquitos.  In  simple  country  life,  though 
the  premises  of  the  peasants  for  the  sake  of  security  are 
contiguous,  there  are  seldom  even  balustrades  to  the  roofs, 
though  in  summer  most  domestic  operations  are  carried 
on  there.  Fifty  years  ago  Persian  law  sanctioned  the 
stoning  without  trial  or  mercy  of  any  one  caught  in  the 
act  of  gazing  into  the  premises  of  another,  unless  the  gazer 
were  the  king. 

Upon  the  courtyard  stables,  barns,  and  store-rooms 
open,  but  so  far  I  notice  that  the  granary  is  in  the  house, 
and  that  the  six-feet-high  clay  receptacles  for  grain  are  in 
the  living-room. 

Looking  from  above  upon  a  plain,  the  poplars  which 
surround  villages  where  there  is  a  sufficiency  of  water 
attract  the  eye.  At  this  season  they  are  nothing  but  a 
brown  patch  on  the  snow.  The  villages  themselves  are 
of  light  bVown  mud,  and  are  surrounded  usually  by  square 
walls  with  towers  at  the  corners,  and  all  have  a  great 
gate.  Within  the  houses  or  hovels  the  families  are 
huddled  irregularly,  with  all  their  appurtenances,  and  in 
winter  the  flocks  and  herds  are  in  subterranean  pens 
beneath.  In  summer  the  animals  go  forth  at  sunrise  and 
return  at  sunset.  The  walls,  which  give  most  of  the 
villages  a  fortified  aspect,  used  to  afford  the  villagers  a 
degree  of  protection  against  the  predatory  Turkomans, 
and  now  give  security  to  the  flocks  against  Lur  and 
other  robbers. 

Every  village  has  its  ketchuda  or  headman,  who  is 
answerable  for  the  taxes,  the  safety  of  travellers,  and  other 
matters. 

Siashan,  Feb.  16. — The  men  being  a  little  better,  we 
left  Saruk  at  nine  on  the  14th,  I  on  a  bright  little 
Baghdadi  horse,  in  such  good  case  that  he  frequently 


LETTER  vi  FERAGHAN  CARPETS  151 

threw  up  his  heels  in  happy  playfulness.  The  temperature 
had  fallen  considerably,  there  had  been  a  fresh  snowfall, 
and  the  day  was  very  bright.  The  Arab  horses  are 
suffering  badly  in  their  eyes  from  the  glare  of  the  snow. 

If  I  had  not  had  such  a  lively  little  horse  I  should 
have  found  the  march  a  tedious  one,  for  we  were  six 
hours  in  doing  eleven  and  a  half  miles  on  a  level !  The 
head  charvadar  had  gone  on  early  to  make  some  arrange- 
ments, and  the  others  loaded  the  animals  so  badly  that 
Hadji  and  the  cook  rolled  off  their  mules  into  the  deep 
semi  -  frozen  slush  from  the  packs  turning  just  outside 
the  gates.  We  had  three  mules  with  us  with  worn-out 
tackle,  and  the  loads  rolled  over  many  times,  the  riders, 
who  were  too  weak  to  help  themselves,  getting  bad  falls. 
As  each  load,  owing  to  the  broken  tackle,  took  fifteen 
minutes  to  put  on  again,  and  the  men  could  do  little, 
a  great  deal  of  hard,  exasperating  work  fell  on  M—  — . 
After  one  bad  fall  in  a  snowdrift  myself,  I  rode  on  alone 
with  one  mule  with  a  valuable  burden.  This,  turn- 
ing for  the  fourth  time,  was  soon  under  his  body,  and  he 
began  to  kick  violently,  quite  dismaying  me  by  the  bang 
of  his  hoofs  against  cases  containing  scientific  instruments. 
It  was  a  droll  comedy  in  the  snow.  I  wanted  to  get 
hold  of  his  halter,  but  every  time  I  went  near  him  he 
whisked  round  and  flung  up  his  heels,  till  I  managed  to 
<5ut  the  ragged  surcingle  and  set  him  free,  when  I  caught 
him  in  deep  snow,  in  which  my  horse  was  very  unwilling 
to  risk  himself. 

Soon  after  leaving  Saruk,  which,  as  I  mentioned  before, 
is  famous  for  very  fine  carpets,  we  descended  gently  upon 
the  great  plain  of  Feraghan,  perhaps  the  largest  carpet- 
producing  district  of  Persia.  These  carpets  are  very  fine 
and  their  patterns  are  unique,  bringing  a  very  high  price. 
This  plain  has  an  altitude  of  about  7000  feet,  is  45  miles 
in  length  bv  from  8  to  1 5  in  breadth,  is  officially  stated 


152  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

to  have  650  villages  upon  it,  all  agricultural  and  carpet 
producing,  and  is  considerably  irrigated  by  streams,  which 
eventually  lose  themselves  in  a  salt  lake  at  its  eastern 
extremity.  It  is  surrounded  by  hills,  with  mountain 
ranges  behind  them,  and  must  be,  both  as  to  productive- 
ness and  population,  one  of  the  most  flourishing  districts 
in  Persia. 

We  were  to  have  marched  to  Kashgird,  but  on  reach- 
ing the  hamlet  of  Ahang  Garang  I  found  that  Abbas 
Khan  had  taken  quarters  there,  saying  that  Kashgird  was 
in  ruins. 

Hadji,  who  had  allowed  himself  to  roll  off  several 
times,  was  moaning  and  weeping  on  the  floor  of  my 
room,  groaning  out,  with  many  cries  of  Ya  Allah,  "  Let 
me  stay  here  till  I'm  better ;  I  don't  want  any  wages ;  I 
shall  be  killed,  oh,  killed !  Oh,  my  family !  I  shall 
never  see  Bushire  any  more  ! "  Though  there  was  much 
reason  to  think  he  was  shamming,  I  did  the  little  that  he 
calls  his  "  work,"  and  left  him  to  smoke  his  opium  pipe 
and  sleep  by  the  fire  in  peace. 

I  was  threatened  with  snow-blindness  in  one  eye ;  in 
fact  I  saw  nothing  with  it,  and  had  to  keep  it  covered 
up.  One  of  the  charvadars  lay  moaning  outside  my 
room,  poor  fellow,  taking  chlorodyne  every  half-hour,  and 
another  had  got  a  bad  foot  from  frost-bite.  They  have 
been  terribly  exposed,  and  the  soft  snow  at  a  higher 
temperature  has  been  worse  for  them  than  the  dry 
powdery  snow  at  a  low  temperature,  as  it  soaks  their 
socks,  shoes,  and  leggings,  and  then  freezes.  Making 
Liebig's  beef  tea  warms  one,  and  they  like  it  even  from 
a  Christian  hand.  The  Afghan  orderly  bore  up  bravely, 
but  was  very  weak.  Indeed  the  prospect  of  getting 
these  men  to  Tihran  is  darkening  daily. 

My  room,  though  open  to  the  snow  at  one  end,  was 
comfortable.  The  oven  had  been  lighted  twelve  hours 


LETTER  VI  A    SNOW    VIEW  153 

before,  and  it  was  delightful  to  hang  one's  feet  into  the 
warm  hole.  There  were  holes  for  light  in  the  roof,  and 
cold  though  it  was,  so  long  as  daylight  lasted  these  were 
never  free  from  veiled  faces  looking  down. 

In  order  to  become  thoroughly  warm  it  was  necessary 
to  walk  long  and  briskly  on  the  roof,  and  this  brought 
all  the  villagers  below  it  to  stare  the  stare  of  vacuity 
rather  than  of  curiosity.  A  snow  scene  is  always  beauti- 
ful at  sunset,  and  this  was  exceptionally  so,  as  the  long 
indigo  shadows  on  the  plain  threw  into  greater  definite- 
ness  the  gleaming,  glittering  hills,  at  one  time  dazzling  in 
the  sunshine,  at  another  flushed  in  the  sunset.  The 
plain  of  Feraghan  as  seen  from  the  roof  was  one  smooth 
expanse  of  pure  deep  snow,  broken  only  by  brown 
splashes,  where  mud  villages  were  emphasised  by  brown 
poplars,  the  unbroken,  unsullied  snow,  two  feet  deep  on 
the  level  and  any  number  in  the  drifts,  looking  like  a 
picture  of  the  Arctic  Ocean,  magnificent  in  its  solitude, 
one  difficult  track,  a  foot  wide,  the  solitary  link  with  the 
larger  world  which  then  seemed  so  very  far  away. 

Things  went  better  yesterday  on  the  whole,  though 
the  mercury  fell  to  zero  in  the  night,  and  I  was  awakened 
several  times  by  the  cold  of  my  open  room,  and  when  a 
number  of  people  came  at  daylight  for  medicines  my 
fingers  were  so  benumbed  that  I  could  scarcely  measure 
them.  What  a  splendid  field  for  a  medical  missionary 
loving  his  profession  this  plain  with  its  650  villages 
would  be,  where  there  are  curable  diseases  by  the 
hundred !  Many  of  the  suffering  people  have  told  me 
that  they  would  give  lodging  and  the  best  of  their 
food  to  any  English  doctor  who  would  travel  among 
them. 

The  loads  were  well  balanced  yesterday,  and  Hadji 
only  pulled  his  over  once  and  only  rolled  off  once, 
when  Abbas  Khan  exclaimed,  "  He's  not  a  man ;  why  did 


154  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

Allah  make  such  a  creature  ? "  We  got  off  at  nine,  the 
roofs  being  crowded  to  see  us  start.  Fuel  is  very  scarce 
at  Ahang  Garang.  For  the  cooking  and  "  parlour  "  fire, 
the  charge  was  forty-five  krans,  or  about  twenty-eight 
shillings !  Probably  this  included  a  large  modaJceL  For 
a  room  from  two  to  four  krans  is  expected. 

Through  M 's  kindness  I  now  have  a  good  horse 

to  ride,  and  the  difference  in  fatigue  is  incredible.  We 
embarked  again  on  the  vast  plain  of  snow.  It  was  a 
grim  day,  and  most  ghastly  and  desolate  this  end  of  the 
plain  looked,  where  the  waters  having  done  their  fertilis- 
ing work  are  lost  in  a  salt  lake,  the  absolutely  white 
hills  round  the  plain  being  emphasised  by  the  blue 
neutral  tint  of  the  sky.  For  the  first  ten  miles  there 
was  little  more  than  a  breeze,  for  the  last  ten  a  pitiless, 
ruthless,  riotous  north-easterly  gale,  blowing  up  the  snow 
in  hissing  drifts,  as  it  swept  across  the  plain  with  a 
desolate  screech. 

The  coverings  with  which  we  were  swaddled  were 
soon  penetrated.  The  cold  seemed  to  enter  the  bones,  and 
to  strike  the  head  and  face  like  a  red-hot  hammer,  stun- 
ning as  it  struck,  the  tears  wrung  from  the  eyes  were 
frozen,  at  times  even  the  eyelids  were  frozen  together. 
The  frozen  snow  hit  one  hard.  Hands  and  feet  were 
by  turns  benumbed  and  in  anguish,  terrific  blasts  loaded 
with  hard  lumps  of  snow  came  down  from  the  hills, 
snow  was  drifting  from  all  the  white  ranges  above  us  ;  on 
the  more  exposed  part  of  the  track  the  gusts  burst  with 
such  violence  as  to  force  some  of  the  mules  off  it  to 
flounder  in  the  deep  snow ;  my  Arab  was  struck  so 
mercilessly  on  his  sore  swollen  eyes  that  at  times  I 
could  scarcely,  with  my  own  useless  hands,  induce  him  to 
face  the  swirls  of  frozen  snow.  Swifter  and  more  resist- 
less were  the  ice-laden  squalls,  more  and  more  obliterated 
became  the  track,  till  after  a  fight  of  over  three  hours, 


LETTER  vi  "HOSPITAL  SUNDAY"  155 

and  the  ceaseless  crossing  of  rolling  hills  and  deep 
hollows,  we  reached  the  top  of  a  wind-bared  slope  7700 
feet  in  altitude  and  saw  this  village,  looking  from  that 
distance  quite  imposing,  on  a  hill  on  the  other  side  of  a 
stream  crossed  by  a  brick  bridge,  with  a  ruined  fort  on 
a  height  above  it.  It  promised  shelter — that  was  all. 
Below  the  village  there  was  an  expanse  of  snow,  sloping 
up  to  pure  white  hills  outlined  against  an  indigo  depth  of 
ominous-looking  clouds. 

While  M went  up  a  hill  for  some  scientific  work, 

I  followed  the  orderly,  who  could  scarcely  sit  on  his 
horse  from  pain  and  weakness,  into  the  most  wretchedly 
ruinous,  deserted-looking  village  I  have  yet  seen,  epitomis- 
ing the  disenchantment  which  a  near  view  of  an  Eastern 
city  brings,  and  up  a  steep  alley  to  a  ruinous  yard  heaped 
with  snow-covered  ruins,  on  one  side  of  which  were  some 
ruinous  rooms,  their  backs  opening  on  a  precipice  above 
the  river,  and  on  the  north-east  wind.  I  tumbled  off  my 
horse,  Abbas  Khan,  the  least  sick  of  the  men,  with  be- 
numbed hands  breaking  my  fall.  The  severe  cold  had 
stiffened  all  my  joints.  We  could  scarcely  speak ;  the 
bones  of  my  face  were  in  intense  pain,  and  I  felt  as  if 
the  cold  were  congealing  my  heart. 

With  Abbas  Khan's  help  I  chose  the  rooms,  the  worst 
we  have  ever  had.  The  one  I  took  for  myself  has  an 
open-work  door  facing  the  wind,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
have  a  fire,  for  the  draught  blows  sticks,  ashes,  and 
embers  over  the  room.  The  others  are  worse.  It  is  an 
awful  night,  blowing  and  snowing ;  all  the  men  but  two 
are  hors  de  combat.  The  poor  orderly,  using  an  Afghan 
phrase,  said,  "  The  wind  has  played  the  demon  with  me." 
He  has  a  fearful  cough,  and  haemorrhage  from  the  lungs 
or  throat.  The  cook  is  threatened  with  pleurisy.  It  may 
truly  be  called  "  Hospital  Sunday."  The  day  has  been 
chiefly  spent  in  making  mustard  poultices,  which  M— 


156  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

is  constantly  crossing  the  yard  in  three  feet  of  snow  to 
put  on,  and  protectors  for  the  chests  and  backs,  preparing 
beef  tea,  making  up  medicines,  etc. 

Surely  things  must  have  reached  their  worst.  Out  of 
seven  men  only  one  servant,  and  he  an  Indian  lad  with 
a  fearful  squint  and  eyes  so  badly  inflamed  that  he  can 
hardly  see  where  he  puts  things  down,  is  able  to  do  any- 
thing. Two  of  the  charvadars  are  lying  ill  in  the  stable. 
Mustard  plasters,  Dover's  powders,  salicylate  of  soda, 
emetics,  poultices,  clinical  thermometers,  chlorodyne,  and 
beef  tea  have  been  in  requisition  all  day.  The  cook, 
the  Afghan  orderly,  and  Hadji  seem  really  ill.  At 
eight  this  morning  groans  at  my  door  took  me  out,  and 
one  of  the  muleteers  was  lying  there  in  severe  pain,  with 
the  hard  fine  snow  beating  on  him.  Later  I  heard  fresh 
moaning  on  my  threshold,  and  found  Hadji  Mien  there 
with  my  breakfast.  I  got  him  in  and  he  fell  again,  up- 
setting the  tea,  and  while  I  attended  to  him  the  big  dogs 
ate  up  the  chapatties  I  He  had  a  good  deal  of  fever,  and 
severe  rheumatism,  and  on  looking  at  his  eyes  I  saw 
that  he  was  nearly  blind.  He  lost  his  blue  glasses  some 
days  ago.  I  sent  him  to  bed  in  the  "  kitchen  "  for  the 
whole  day,  where  he  lay  groaning  in  comfort  by  the 
fire  with  his  opium  pipe  and  his  tea.  He  thinks  he  will 
not  survive  the  night,  and  has  just  given  me  his  dying 
directions ! 

Afterwards    M came  for  the   thermometer  and 

chlorodyne,  and  remarked  that  my  room  was  "  unfit  for  a 
beast."  The  truth  is  I  share  it  with  several  very  big 
dogs.  It  did  look  grotesquely  miserable  last  night — 
black,  fireless,  wet,  dirty,  with  all  my  things  lying  on 
the  dirty  floor,  having  been  tumbled  about  by  these 
dogs  in  their  search  for  my  last  box  of  Brand's  meat 
lozenges,  which  they  got  out  of  a  strong,  tightly-tied-up 
bag,  which  they  tore  into  strips.  On  going  for  my  fur 


LETTER  vi  CHEST  PROTECTORS  157 

cloak  to-day,  these  three  dogs,  who,  I  believe,  would  take 
on  civilisation  more  quickly  than  their  masters,  were  all 
found  rolled  up  under  it,  and  lying  on  my  bed. 

The  mercury  in  the  "parlour"  with  a  large  fire 
cannot  be  raised  above  36°.  In  my  room  to-night  the 
wet  floor  is  frozen  hard  and  the  mercury  is  20°.  This 
is  nothing  after  12°  and  16°  below  zero,  but  the  furious 
east  wind  and  a  singular  dampness  in  the  air  make  it 
very  severe.  Yesterday,  before  the  sky  clouded  over, 
there  was  a  most  remarkable  ring  or  halo  of  prismatic 
colours  round  the  sun,  ominous  of  the  storm  which  has 
followed. 

This  place  standing  high  without  shelter  is  fearfully 
exposed ;  there  is  no  milk  and  no  comfort  of  any  kind 
for  the  sick  men.  We  have  decided  to  wrap  them  up 
and  move  them  to  Kum,  where  there  is  a  Persian  doctor 
with  a  European  education ;  but  it  is  a  great  risk,  though 
the  lesser  of  two.  I  have  just  finished  four  protectors 
for  the  back  and  chest,  three-quarters  of  a  yard  long  by 
sixteen  inches  wide,  buttoning  on  the  shoulders,  of  a  very 
soft  felt  namad  nearly  half  an  inch  thick — a  precaution 
much  to  be  commended. 

I  think  that  Hadji,  though  in  great  pain,  poor  fellow, 
is  partly  shamming.  He  professed  this  evening  to  have 
violent  fever,  and  the  thermometer  shows  that  he  has 
none.  Even  the  few  things  which  I  thought  he  had  done 
for  me,  such  as  making  cliapatties,  I  find  have  been  done 
by  others.  It  is  a  pity  for  himself  as  well  as  for  me 
that  he  should  be  so  incorrigibly  lazy. 

Taj  Khatan,  Feb.  18. — Yesterday  we  had  a  severe 
march,  and  owing  first  to  the  depth  of  the  snow,  and 
then  to  the  depth  of  the  mud,  we  were  seven  hours  in 
doing  twenty-one  miles.  The  wind  was  still  intensely 
cold — bitter  indeed.  There  are  few  remarks  to  be  made 
about  a  country  buried  in  snow.  The  early  miles  were 


158  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

across  the  fag  end  of  the  dazzling  plain  of  Feraghan, 
which  instead  of  being  covered  with  villages  is  an 
uninhabited  desert  with  a  salt  lake.  Then  the  road 
winds  among  mountains  of  an  altitude  of  8000  and  9000 
feet  and  more,  its  highest  point  being  8350  feet,  where 
we  began  a  descent  which  will  land  us  at  Tihran  at  a 
level  under  4000  feet.  Snowy  mountains  and  snowy 
plains  were  behind — bare  brown  earth  was  to  come  all 
too  soon. 

Winding  wearily  round  low  hills,  meeting  caravans  of 
camels  to  which  we  had  to  give  way,  and  of  asses 
floundering  in  the  snow,  we  came  in  the  evening  to  a 
broad  slope  with  villages,  poplars,  walnuts,  and  irrigated 
lands,  then  to  the  large  and  picturesquely  situated  village 
of  Givr  on  a  steep  bank  above  a  rapid  stream,  and  just 
at  dusk  to  the  important  village  of  Jairud,  also  on  high 
ground  above  the  same  river,  and  surrounded  by  gardens 
and  an  extraordinary  number  of  fruit  trees.  The  altitude 
is  6900  feet.1  I  had  a  lalakhana,  very ,  cold,  and  was 
fairly  benumbed  for  some  time  after  the  long  cold  march. 

A  great  many  people  applied  for  medicine,  and  some 
of  the  maladies,  specially  when  they  affect  children,  make 
one  sick  at  heart.  Hadji  is  affecting  to  be  stone  deaf,  so 
he  no  longer  interprets  for  sick  people,  which  creates  an 
additional  difficulty.  We  left  this  morning  at  ten, 
descended  2000  feet,  and  suddenly  left  the  snow  behind. 
Vast,  gray,  and  grim  the  snow-covered  mountains  looked 
as  they  receded  into  indigo  gloom,  with  snow  clouds 
drifting  round  their  ghastly  heads  and  across  the  dazzling 
snow  plains  in  which  we  had  been  floundering  for  thirty 
days.  It  is  strange  to  see  mother  earth  once  more- 
rocky,  or  rather  stony  hills,  mud  hills,  mud  plains,  mud 

1  Jairud  exports  fruit  to  Kfim  and  even  to  Tihran,  and  in  the  autumn 
I  was  interested  to  find  that  the  best  pears  and  peaches  in  the  Hamadan 
market  came  from  its  luxuriant  orchards. 


LETTER  VI 


PERSIAN  BREAD -MAKING 


159 


slopes,  a  brown  world,  with  a  snow  world  above.  Two 
pink  hills  rise  above  the  brown  plain,  and  some  toothed 
peaks,  but  the  rest  of  the  view  is  simply  hills  and  slopes 
of  niud  and  gravel,  bearing  thorns,  and  the  relics  of  last 
year's  thistles  and  wormwood.  The  atmospheric  colouring 
is,  however,  very  fine. 

This  is    a  large  village  with  beehive  roofs   in,  and 
of,  mud.      A  quagmire  surrounds  it  and  is  in  the  centre 


PERSIAN   BREAD-MAKING. 


of  it,  and  the  crumbling  houses  are  thrown  promiscu- 
ously down  upon  it.  It  is  nearly  the  roughest  place  I 
have  seen,  and  the  worst  accommodation,  though  Abbas 
Khan  says  it  is  the  best  house  in  the  village. 
My  room  has  an  oven  in  the  floor,  neatly  lined  with 
clay,  and  as  I  write  the  women  are  making  bread  by  a 
very  simple  process.  The  oven  is  well  heated  by  the 
live  embers  of  animal  fuel.  They  work  the  flour  and 
water  dough,  to  which  a  piece  of  leaven  from  the  last 
baking  has  been  added,  into  a  flat  round  cake,  about 
eighteen  inches  in  diameter  and  half  an  inch  thick,  place 


160  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

it  quickly  on  a  very  dirty  cushion,  and  clap  it  against 
the  concave  interior  of  the  oven,  withdrawing  the  cushion. 
In  one  minute  it  is  baked  and  removed. 

A  sloping  hole  in  the  floor  leads  to  the  fowl-house. 
The  skin  of  a  newly -killed  sheep  hangs  up.  A  pack 
saddle  and  gear  take  up  one  corner,  my  bed  another,  and 
the  owner's  miscellaneous  property  fills  up  the  rest  of  the 
blackened,  cracked  mud  hovel,  thick  with  the  sooty 
cobwebs  and  dust  of  generations.  The  door,  which  can 
only  be  shut  by  means  of  a  wooden  bolt  outside,  is  six 
inches  from  the  ground,  so  that  fowls  and  cats  run  in 
and  out  with  impunity.  Behind  my  bed  there  is  a  door- 
less  entrance  to  a  dark  den,  full  of  goat's  hair,  bones,  and 
other  stores.  In  front  there  is  a  round  hole  for  letting 
in  light,  which  I  persistently  fill  up  with  a  blanket  which 
is  as  persistently  withdrawn.  There  is  no  privacy,  for 
though  the  people  are  glad  to  let  their  rooms,  they  only 
partially  vacate  them,  and  are  in  and  out  all  the  time. 
Outside  there  is  mud  a  foot  deep,  then  a  steep  slope,  and 
a  disgusting  green  pool,  and  the  drinking  water  is 
nauseous  and  brackish.  The  village  people  here  and 
everywhere  seem  of  a  very  harmless  sort. 

Ktim,  Ash  Wednesday,  189G. — It  was  really  very 
difficult  to  get  away  from  Taj  Khatan.  The  charvadar 
came  on  here,  leaving  only  two  men  to  load  twelve 

mules.  M practically  had  to  load  them  himself, 

and  to  reload  them  when  the  tackle  broke  and  the  loads 
turned.  Hadji  and  the  cook  were  quite  incapable,  the 
Afghan  orderly,  who  seemed  like  a  dying  man,  was  left 
behind ;  in  fact  there  were  no  servants  and  no  interpreters, 
and  the  groom  was  so  ill  he  could  hardly  sit  on  a  horse. 

The  march  of  twenty-five  miles  took  fully  eight  hours, 
but  on  the  Arab  horse,  and  with  an  occasional  gallop,  I 
got  through  quite  comfortably,  and  have  nothing  to 
complain  of.  The  road  lies  through  a  country  of  mud 


LETTER  vi  ARRIVAL  AT  KUM  161 

hills,  brown  usually,  drab  sometimes,  streaked  with  deep 
madder  red,  and  occasionally  pale  green  clay — stones, 
thistles,  and  thorns  their  only  crop.  [I  passed  over  much 
of  this  country  in  the  spring,  and  though  there  were  a 
few  flowers,  chiefly  bulbs,  and  the  thorns  were  clothed 
with  a  scanty  leafage,  and  the  thistles  and  artemisia  were 
green -gray  instead  of  buff,  the  general  aspect  of  the 
region  was  the  same.]  There  was  not  a  village  on  the 
route,  only  two  or  three  heaps  of  deserted  ruins  and  two 
or  three  ruinous  mud  imamzadas,  no  cultivation,  streams, 
or  springs,  the  scanty  pools  brackish,  here  and  there  the 
glittering  whiteness  of  saline  efflorescence,  not  a  tree  or 
even  bush,  nothing  living  except  a  few  goats,  picking  up, 
who  knows  how,  a  scanty  living, — a  blighted,  blasted 
region,  a  land  without  a  raison  d'etre. 

Then  came  low  mud  ranges,  somewhat  glorified  by 
atmosphere,  higher  hills  on  the  left,  ghastly  with  snow 
which  was  even  then  falling,  glimpses  far  away  to  the 
northward  of  snowy  mountains  among  heavy  masses  of 
sunlit  clouds,  an  ascent,  a  gap  in  the  mud  hills,  some  low 
peaks  of  white,  green,  and  red  clay,  a  great  plain  partly 
green  with  springing  wheat,  and  in  the  centre,  in  the 
glow  of  sunset,  the  golden  dome  and  graceful  minarets  of 
the  shrine  of  Fatima,  the  sister  of  Eeza,  groups  of  trees, 
and  the  mud  houses,  mud  walls,  and  many  domes  and 
minarets  of  the  sacred  city  of  Kum. 

Descending,  we  trotted  for  some  miles  through  irrigated 
wheat,  passed  a  walled  garden  or  two,  rode  along  the 
bank  of  the  Abi  Khonsar  or  Abi  Kum,  which  we  had 
followed  down  from  Givr,  admired  the  gleaming  domes 
and  tiled  minarets  of  the  religious  buildings  on  its  bank, 
and  the  nine -arched  brick  bridge  which  spans  it,  and 
reached  a  sort  of  hotel  outside  the  gates,  a  superior 
caravanserai  with  good,  though  terribly  draughty  guest- 
rooms upstairs,  furnished  with  beds,  chairs,  and  tables, 
VOL.  i  M 


162  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vi 

suited  for  the  upper  class  of  pilgrims  who  resort  to  this 
famous  shrine. 

To  have  arrived  here  in  good  health,  and  well  able 
for  the  remaining  journey  of  nearly  a  hundred  miles,  is 
nothing  else  than  a  triumph  of  race,  of  good  feeding 
through  successive  generations,  of  fog  -  born  physique, 
nurtured  on  damp  east  winds  ! 

There  is  an  air  of  civilisation  about  this  place.  The 
rooms  have  windows  with  glass  panes  and  doors  which 
shut,  a  fountain  in  front,  beyond  that  a  garden,  and  then 
the  river,  and  the  golden  shrine  of  Fatima  and  its  ex- 
quisite minarets.  My  door  opens  on  a  stone-flagged  roof 
with  a  fine  view  of  the  city  and  hills — an  excellent 
place  for  taking  exercise.  So  strong  is  Mohammedan 
fanaticism  here  that  much  as  I  should  like  to  see  the  city, 
it  would  be  a  very  great  risk  to  walk  through  it  except  in 
disguise. 

M borrowed  a  taktrawan  from  the  telegraph 

clerk  and  sent  it  back  with  two  horses  to  Taj  Khatan  for 
the  orderly,  who  was  left  there  very  ill  yesterday  morning, 
under  Abbas  Khan's  charge,  the  Khan  feeling  so  ill  that  he 
lay  down  inside  it  instead  of  riding.  Hadji  gave  up  work 
altogether,  so  I  unpacked  and  pitched  my  bed,  glad  to 
be  warmed  by  exercise.  Near  8  P.M.  Abbas  Khan  burst 
into  the  "parlour"  saying  that  the  taktrawan  horses 
were  stuck  in  the  mud.  He  evidently  desired  to 
avoid  the  march  back,  but  two  mules  have  been  sent  to 
replace  the  horses,  and  two  more  are  to  go  to-morrow. 
The  orderly  was  so  ill  that  I  expect  his  corpse  rather 
than  himself. 

This  morning  Hadji,  looking  fearful,  told  me  that  he 
should  die  to-day,  and  he  and  the  cook  are  now  in  bed  in 
opposite  corners  of  a  room  below,  with  a  good  fire,  feverish 
and  moaning.  It  is  really  a  singular  disaster,  and  shows 
what  the  severity  of  the  journey  has  been.  The  Persian 


LETTER  vi  THE  SHAH'S  DAUGHTER  163 

doctor,  with  a  European  medical  education,  on  whom  our 
hopes  were  built,  when  asked  to  come  and  see  these  poor 
men,  readily  promised  to  do  so ;  but  the  Princess,  the 
Shah's  daughter,  whose  physician  he  is,  absolutely  refuses 
permission,  on  the  ground  that  we  have  come  through  a 
region  in  which  there  is  supposed  to  be  cholera !  . 

I.  L.  B. 


164  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vii 


LETTEE  VII 

KCM,  Feb.  21. 

AT  five  yesterday  afternoon  Abbas  Khan  rode  in  saying 
that  the  taktrawan,  with  the  orderly  much  better,  was 
only  three  miles  off.  This  was  good  news;  a  mattress 
was  put  down  for  him  next  the  fire  and  all  preparations 
for  his  comfort  were  made.  Snow  showers  had  been 
falling  much  of  the  day,  there  was  a  pitiless  east  wind, 
and  as  darkness  came  on  snow  fell  persistently.  Two 
hours  passed,  but  no  taktrawan  arrived.  At  7.30  Abbas 
Khan  was  ordered  to  go  in  search  of  it  with  a  good 
lantern ;  8,  9,  1 0  o'clock  came  without  any  news.  At 
10.30,  the  man  whose  corpse  I  had  feared  to  see 
came  in  much  exhausted,  having  crawled  for  two  miles 
through  the  mire  and  snow.  The  sowar,  who  pretended 
to  start  with  the  lantern,  never  went  farther  than  the 
coffee-room  at  the  gate,  where  he  had  spent  an  uncon- 
scientious  but  cheery  evening ! 

In  the  pitch  darkness  the  taktrawan  and  mules  had 
fallen  off  the  road  into  a  gap,  the  takrawan  was  smashed, 
and  a  good  white  mule,  one  of  the  "light  division,"  was 
killed,  her  back  being  broken.  This  was  not  the  only 
disaster.  Hadji  had  lain  down  on  the  borrowed  -mattress 
and  it  had  taken  fire  from  the  live  ashes  of  his  pipe  and 
was  burned,  and  he  was  a  little  scorched. 

The  telegraphist  was  to  have  started  for  Isfahan  the 
next  morning  with  his  wife  and  child  in  the  litter,  in 


LETTER  vii  HADJI  REJUVENATED  165 

order  to  vacate  the  house  for  the  new  official  and  his 
family,  and  their  baggage  had  actually  started,  but  now 
they  are  detained  till  this  taktrawan  can  be  repaired.  In 
the  meantime  another  official  has  arrived  with  his  goods 
and  a  large  family,  a  most  uncomfortable  situation  for 
both  parties,  but  they  bear  it  with  the  utmost  cheerfulness 
and  good  nature. 

Last  night  I  made  Hadji  drink  a  mug  of  hot  milk 
with  two  tablespoonfuls  of  brandy  in  it,  and  it  worked 
wonders.  This  morning,  instead  of  a  nearly  blind  man 
groping  his  way  about  with  difficulty,  I  beheld  a  man 
with  nothing  the  matter  but  a  small  speck  on  one  eye. 
It  must  have  been  snow -blindness.  He  looks  quite 
"  spry."  It  is  not  only  the  alcohol  which  has  cured  him, 
but  that  we  are  parting  by  mutual  consent ;  and  feeling 
sorry  for  the  man,  I  have  given  him  more  than  his  wages, 
and  his  full  demand  for  his  journey  back  to  Bushire,  with 

additional  warm  clothing.      M has  also  given  him  a 

handsome  present. 

I  fear  he  has  deceived  me,  and  that  the  stone  deaf- 
ness, feebleness,  idiocy,  and  the  shaking,  palsied  gait  of 
a  man  of  ninety — all  but  the  snow-blindness — have  been 
assumed  in  order  to  get  his  return  journey  paid,  when 
he  found  that  the  opportunities  for  making  money  were 
not  what  he  expected.  It  is  better  to  be  deceived 
twenty  times  than  to  be  hard  on  these  poor  fellows 
once,  but  he  has  been  exasperating,  and  I  feel  somewhat 
aggrieved  at  having  worked  so  hard  to  help  a  man  who 
was  "  malingering."  The  last  seen  of  him  was  an  active, 
erect  man  walking  at  a  good  pace  by  the  side  of  his 
mule,  at  least  forty  years  thrown  off.  [He  did  not 
then  leave  Kum,  but  being  seized  with  pleurisy  was 
treated  with  great  kindness  by  Mr.  Lyne  the  electrician, 
and  afterwards  by  the  Amin-es- Sultan  (the  Prime 
Minister),  who  was  visiting  Kum,  and  who,  thinking  to 


166  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vn 

oblige  me,  brought  him  up  to  Tihran  in  his  train !] 
Those  who  had  known  him  for  years  gave  a  very  bad 
account  of  him,  but  said  that  if  he  liked  he  could  be  a 
good  servant.  It  is  the  first  time  that  I  have  been 
unfortunate  in  my  travelling  servant. 

The  English  telegraph  line,  and  a  post-office,  open 
once  a  week,  are  the  tokens  of  civilisation  in  Kum. 
A  telegraphic  invitation  from  the  British  Minister  in 
Tihran,  congratulatory  telegrams  on  our  safety  from 
Tihran,  Bushire,  and  India,  and  an  opportunity  for 
posting  letters,  make  one  feel  once  more  in  the  world. 
The  weather  is  grim,  bitterly  cold,  with  a  strong  north- 
east wind,  raw  and  damp,  but  while  snow  is  whitening 
the  hills  only  rain  and  sleet  fall  here.  The  sun  has 
not  shone  since  we  came,  but  the  strong  cold  air  is 
invigorating  like  our  own  climate. 

Taking  advantage  of  it  being  Friday,  the  Mohammedan 
day  of  rest,  when  most  of  the  shops  are  closed  and  the 
bazars  are  deserted,  we  rode  through  a  portion  of  them 
preceded  by  the  wild  figure  of  Abbas  Khan,  and  took 
tea  at  the  telegraph  office,  where  they  were  most  kind 
and  pleasant  regarding  the  accident  which  had  put  them 
to  so  much  inconvenience. 

Kum  is  on  the  beaten  track,  and  has  a  made  road 
to  Tihran.  Almost  every  book  of  travels  in  Persia  has 
something  to  say  upon  it,  but  except  that  it  is  the 
second  city  in  Persia  in  point  of  sanctity,  and  that  it 
thrives  as  much  by  the  bodies  of  the  dead  which  are 
brought  in  thousands  for  burial  as  by  the  tens  of 
thousands  of  pilgrims  who  annually  visit  the  shrine  of 
Fatima,  and  that  it  is  renowned  for  fanaticism,  there  is 
not  much  to  say  about  it. 

Situated  in  a  great  plain,  the  gleam  of  its  golden 
dome  and  its  slender  minarets  is  seen  from  afar,  and 
the  deep  green  of  its  orchards,  and  the  bright  green  of 


LETTER  VII 


THE  SHRINE  OF  FATIMA 


167 


the  irrigated  and  cultivated  lands  which  surround  it, 
are  a  splash  of  welcome  fertility  on  the  great  brown 
waste.  Singular  toothy  peaks  of  striated  marl  of  brilliant 
colouring — red,  blue,  green,  orange,  and  salt  peaks 
very  white — give  a  curious  brilliancy  to  its  environ- 
ment, but  this  salt,  which  might  be  a  source  of  wealth 
to  the  city,  is  not  worked,  only  an  ass -load  or  two  at 
a  time  being  brought  in  to  supply  the  necessities  of  the 
market. 

The  shrine  of  Fatima,  the  sister  of  Reza  the  eighth 


THE   SHKINE   OF   FATIMA. 


Imam,  who  sleeps  at  Meshed,  is  better  to  Kuni  than 
salt  mines  or  aught  else.  Moslems,  though  they  regard 
women  with  unspeakable  contempt,  agree  to  reverence 
Fatima  as  a  very  holy  and  almost  worshipful  person, 
and  her  dust  renders  Kum  a  holy  place,  attracting  tens 
of  thousands  of  pilgrims  every  year,  although,  unlike 
pilgrimages  to  Meshed  and  Kerbela,  Kum  confers  no 
lifelong  designation  on  those  by  whom  it  exists.  Its 
estimated  population  is  10,000  souls,  and  at  times  this 
number  is  nearly  doubled.  Pilgrimage  consists  in  a 
visit  to  the  tomb  of  Fatima,  paying  a  fee,  and  in  some 
cases  adding  a  votive  offering.  Vows  of  abstinence 


168  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vn 

from  some  special  sin  are  frequently  made  at  the  shrine 
and  are  carefully  registered. 

The  dead,  however,  who  are  annually  brought  in 
thousands  to  be  buried  in  the  sacred  soil  which  sur- 
rounds the  shrine,  are  the  great  source  of  the  wealth  of 
Kum.  These  corpses  travel,  as  to  Kerbela,  on  mules, 
four  being  lashed  on  one  animal  occasionally,  some  fresh, 
some  decomposing,  others  only  bags  of  exhumed  bones. 
The  graves  occupy  an  enormous  area,  of  which  the 
shrine  is  the  centre.  The  kings  of  the  Kajar  dynasty, 
members  of  royal  families,  and  450  saints  are  actually 
buried  within  the  precincts  of  the  shrine.  The  price  of 
interments  varies  with  the  proximity  to  the  dust  of 
Fatima  from  six  Jcrans  to  one  hundred  tumans.  The 
population  may  be  said  to  be  a  population  of  undertakers. 
Death  meets  one  everywhere.  The  Ab-i-Khonsar,  which 
supplies  the  drinking  water,  percolates  through  "dead 
men's  bones  and  all  uncleanness."  Vestments  for  the 
dead  are  found  in  the  bazars.  Biers  full  and  empty 
traverse  the  streets  in  numbers.  Stone-cutting  for  grave- 
stones is  a  most  lucrative  business.  The  charvadars  of 
Kum  prosper  on  caravans  of  the  dead.  There  is  a 
legion  of  gravediggers.  Kum  is  a  gruesome  city,  a 
vast  charnel-house,  yet  its  golden  dome  and  minarets 
brighten  the  place  of  death. 

The  dome  of  Fatima  is  covered  with  sheets  of  copper 
plated  with  gold  an  eighth  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  and 
the  ornament  at  the  top  of  the  dome,  which  is  of  pure 
gold,  is  said  to  weigh  140  Ibs.  The  slender  minarets 
which  front  this  imamzada  are  covered  with  a  mosaic  of 
highly-glazed  tiles  of  exquisite  tints,  in  which  an  azure  blue, 
a  canary  yellow,  and  an  iridescent  green  predominate,  and 
over  all  there  is  a  sheen  of  a  golden  hue.  The  shrine  is 
inaccessible  to  Christians.  I  asked  a  Persian  doctor  if  I 
might  look  in  for  one  moment  at  the  threshold  of  the 


LETTER  vii  THE  CITY  OF  K0M  169 

outer  court,  and  he  replied  in  French,  "Are  you  then 
weary  of  life  ?  "  l 

My  Indian  servant,  an  educated  man  on  whose  faithful 
though  meagre  descriptions  I  can  rely,  visited  the  shrine 
and  describes  the  dome  as  enriched  with  arabesques  in 
mosaic  and  as  hung  with  ex  votos,  consisting  chiefly  of 
strips  of  silk  and  cotton.  The  tomb  itself,  he  says,  is 
covered  with  a  wooden  ark,  with  certain  sacred  sentences 
cut  upon  it,  and  this  is  covered  by  a  large  brown  shawl. 
Eound  this  ark,  which  is  under  the  dome,  Kerman, 
Kashmir,  and  Indian  shawls  are  laid  down  as  carpets. 
This  open  space  is  surrounded  with  steel  railings  inlaid 
with  gold  after  the  fashion  of  the  niello  work  of  Japan, 
and  the  whole  is  enclosed  with  a  solid  silver  fence,  the 
rails  of  which  are  "  as  thick  as  two  thumbs,  and  as  high 
as  a  tall  man's  head."  This  imamzada  itself  is  regarded 
as  of  great  antiquity. 

Two  Persian  kings,  who  reigned  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  are  buried  near  the  beautiful 
minarets,  which  are  supposed  to  be  of  the  same  date. 
There  are  many  mosques  and  minarets  in  Kum,  besides  a 
quantity  of  conical  imamzadas,  the  cones  of  which  have 
formerly  been  covered  with  glazed  blue  tiles  of  a  turquoise 
tint,  some  of  which  still  remain.  "  It  was  taken  by  the 
Afghans  in  1772,  and  though  partially  rebuilt  is  very 
ruinous.  It  has  a  mud  wall,  disintegrating  from  neglect, 
surrounded  occasionally  by  a  ditch,  and  at  other  times 
by  foul  and  stagnant  ponds.  The  ruinousness  of  Kum 
can  scarcely  be  exaggerated. 

The  bazars  are  large  and  very  busy,  and  are  con- 
siderably more  picturesque  than  those  of  Kirmanshah. 
The  town  lives  by  pilgrims  and  corpses,  and  the  wares 

1  I  spent  two  days  at  Kum  five  weeks  later,  and  saw  the  whole  of  it  in 
disguise,  and  in  order  to  attain  some  continuity  of  description  I  put  my 

two  letters  together. 


170  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vn 

displayed  to  attract  the  former  are  more  attractive  than 
usual.  There  are  nearly  450  shops,  of  which  forty-three 
sell  Manchester  goods  almost  exclusively.  Coarse  china, 
and  'pottery  often  of  graceful  shapes  with  a  sky-blue 
glaze,  and  water-coolers  are  among  the  industries  of  this 
city,  which  also  makes  shoes,  and  tans  leather  with 
pomegranate  hark. 

The  Ab-i-Khonsar  is  now  full  and  rapid,  but  is  a 
mere  thread  in  summer.  The  nine-arched  bridge,  with 
its  infamously  paved  roadway  eighteen  feet  wide,  is  an 
interesting  object  from  all  points  of  view,  for  while  its 
central  arch  has  a  span  of  forty-five  feet,  the  others  have 
only  spans  of  twenty.  The  gateway  beyond  the  bridge 
is  tawdrily  ornamented  with  blue  and  green  glazed  tiles. 
After  seeing  several  of  the  cities  of  Persia,  I  am  quite 
inclined  to  give  Kum  the  palm  for  interest  and  beauty  of 
aspect,  when  seen  from  any  distant  point  of  view. 

That  it  is  a  "  holy  "  city,  and  that  a  pilgrimage  to  its 
shrine  is  supposed  to  atone  for  sin,  are  its  great  interests. 
Its  population  is  composed  in  large  proportion  of  mollahs 
and  Seyyids,  or  descendants  of  Mohammed,  and  as  a  whole 
is  devoted  to  the  reigning  Shiah  creed.  It  has  a  theo- 
logical college  of  much  repute,  established  by  Fath'  Ali 
Shah,  which  now  has  100  students.  The  women  are 
said  to  be  very  devout,  and  crowd  the  mosques  on  Friday 
evenings,  when  their  devotions  are  led  by  an  imam.  The 
men  are  fanatically  religious,  though  the  fanaticism  is 
somewhat  modified.  No  wine  may  be  sold  in  Kum,  and 
no  Jew  or  Armenian  is  allowed  to  keep  a  shop. 

Kum,  being  a  trading  city,  manufactures  a  certain 
amount  of  public  opinion  in  its  business  circles,  which 
differs  not  very  considerably  from  that  which  prevails  at 
Kirmanshah.  The  traders  accept  it  as  a  foregone  con- 
clusion that  Russia  will  occupy  Persia  as  far  as  Isfahan 
on  the  death  of  the  present  Shah,  and  regard  such  a  destiny 


LETTER  vii       THE  GARRULITY  OF  ENGLAND  171 

as  "  fate."  If  only  their  religion  is  not  interfered  with, 
it  matters  little,  they  say,  whether  they  pay  their  taxes  to 
the  Shah  or  the  Czar.  To  judge  from  their  speech,  Islam 
is  everything  to  them,  and  their  country  very  little,  and 
the  strong  bond  of  the  faith  which  rules  life  and  thought 
from  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  to  the  Chinese  frontier  far 
outweighs  the  paltry  considerations  of  patriotism.  But 
my  impression  is  that  all  Orientals  prefer  the  tyrannies 
and  exactions,  and  the  swiftness  of  injustice  or  justice  of 
men  of  their  own  creed  and  race  to  good  government  on 
the  part  of  unintelligible  aliens,  and  that  though  Persians 
seem  pretty  comfortable  in  the  prospect  of  a  double 
occupation  of  Persia,  its  actual  accomplishment  might 
strike  out  a  flash  of  patriotism. 

Probably  this  ruinous,  thinly -peopled  country,  with 
little  water  and  less  fuel,  and  only  two  roads  which  deserve 
the  name,  has  possibilities  of  resurrection  under  greatly 
changed  circumstances.  Of  the  two  occupations  which 
are  regarded  as  certain,  I  think  that  most  men,  at  least 
in  Central  and  Southern  Persia,  would  prefer  an  English 
occupation,  but  every  one  says,  "England  talks  and  does 
not  act,"  and  that"Eussia  will  pour  100,000  troops  into 
Persia  while  England  is  talking  in  London."  I.  L.  B. 


172  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vin 


LETTER  VIII 

CARAVANSERAI  OF  ALIABAD,  Feb.  23. 

TWELVE  hours  and  a  half  of  hard  riding  have  brought  us 
here  in  two  days.  No  doctor  could  be  obtained  in  Kum, 
and  it  was  necessary  to  bring  the  sick  men  on  as  quickly 
as  possible  for  medical  treatment.  It  was  bitterly  cold 
on  the  last  day,  though  the  altitude  is  only  3400  feet, 
and  it  was  a  tiresome  day,  for  I  had  not  only  to  look 
over  and  repack,  but  to  clean  the  cooking  utensils  and 
other  things,  which  had  not  been  touched  apparently  since 
we  left  Baghdad ! 

This  is  a  tedious  part  of  the  journey,  a  "  beaten  track  " 
with  few  features  of  interest,  the  great  highway  from 
Isfahan  to  Tihran,  a  road  of  dreary  width ;  where  it  is 
a  made  road  running  usually  perfectly  straight,  with 
a  bank  and  a  ditch  on  each  side.  The  thaw  is  now 
complete,  and  travelling  consists  of  an  attempt  to  get  on 
by  the  road  till  it  becomes  an  abyss  which  threatens  to 
prove  bottomless,  then  there  is  a  plunge  and  a  struggle 
to  the  top  of  the  bank,  or  over  the  bank  to  the  trodden 
waste,  but  any  move  can  be  only  temporary,  the  all- 
powerful  mire  regulates  the  march.  The  snow  is  nothing 
to  the  mud.  Frequently  carcasses  of  camels,  mules,  and 
asses,  which  have  lain  down  to  die  under  their  loads,  were 
passed,  then  caravans  with  most  of  the  beasts  entangled  in 
the  miry  clay,  unable  to  rise  till  they  were  unloaded 
by  men- up  to  their  knees  in  the  quagmire,  and,  worst  of 


LETTER  vin  A  NOBLE  CARAVANSERAI  173 

all,  mules  loaded  with  the  dead,  so  loosely  tied  up  in 
planks  that  in  some  cases  when  the  mule  flounders  and 
falls,  the  miserable  relics  of  humanity  tumble  out  upon 
the  swamp ;  and  these  scenes  of  falling,  struggling,  and 
even  perishing  animals  are  repeated  continually  along 
the  level  parts  of  this  scarcely  passable  highroad. 

Our  loads,  owing  to  bad  tackle,  were  always  coming 
off,  the  groom's  mule  fell  badly,  the  packs  came  off  another, 
and  half  an  hour  was  spent  in  catching  the  animal,  then 
I  was  thrown  from  my  horse  into  soft  mud. 

Cultivation  ceases  a  short  distance  from  Kum,  giving 
place  to  a  brown  waste,  with  patches  of  saline  efflorescence 
upon  it,  on  which  high  hills  covered  partially  with  snow 
send  down  low  spurs  of  brown  mud.  The  water  nearly 
everywhere  is  brackish,  and  only  just  drinkable.  After 
crossing  a  rapid  muddy  river,  nearly  dry  in  summer,  by 
a  much  decayed  bridge  of  seven  or  eight  low  arches, 
we  reached  terra  firma,  and  a  long  gradual  ascent  and 
a  series  of  gallops  brought  us  to  the  large  caravanserai  of 
Shashgird,  an  immense  place  with  imposing  pretensions 
which  are  fully  realised  within.  In  the  outer  court 
camels  were  lying  in  rows.  A  fine  tiled  archway  leads 
to  an  immense  quadrangle,  with  a  fine  stone  abambar 
or  covered  receptacle  for  water  in  the  middle.  All  round 
the  quadrangle  are  arched  recesses  or  mangers,  each  with 
a  room  at  the  back,  to  the  number  of  eighty.  At  two  of 
the  corners  there  are  enclosed  courtyards  with  fountains, 
several  superior  rooms  with  beds  (much  to  be  avoided), 
chairs,  mirrors,  and  tables  fairly  clean — somewhat  dreary 
luxury,  but  fortunately  at  this  season  free  from  vermin. 
That  caravanserai  can  accommodate  1000  men  in  rooms, 
and  1500  mules. 

To-day's  long  march,  which,  however,  has  had  more 
road  suitable  for  galloping,  has  been  over  wild,  weird, 
desolate,  God-forsaken  country,  interesting  from  its  de- 


174  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vm 

solation  and  its  great  wastes,  forming  part  of  the  Kavir  or 
Great  Salt  Desert  of  Persia,  absolutely  solitary,  with  scarcely 
a  hamlet — miles  of  the  great  highway  of  Persia  without 
a  living  creature,  no  house,  no  bush,  nothing.  Later,  there 
were  some  vultures  feasting  on  a  dead  camel,  and  a  mule- 
load  of  two  bodies  down  in  the  mud. 

Some  miles  from  Shashgird,  far  from  the  road,  there  is 
a  large  salt  lake  over  which  some  stationary  mists  were 
brooding.  Beyond  this  an  ascent  among  snow  clouds 
along  some  trenched  land  where  a  few  vines  and  saplings 
have  been  planted  leads  to  a  caravanserai  built  for  the 
accommodation  of  state  officials  on  their  journeys,  where 
in  falling  snow  we  vindicated  our  origin  in  the  triumphant 
West  by  taking  lunch  on  a  windy  verandah  outside  rather 
than  in  the  forlorn  dampness  of  the  inside,  and  brought  a 
look  of  surprise  even  over  the  impassive  face  of  the 
seraidar. 

When  we  left  the  snow  was  falling  in  large  wet  flakes, 
and  the  snow  clouds  were  drifting  wildly  among  the  peaks 
of  a  range  which  we  skirted  for  a  few  miles  and  then 
crossed  at  a  considerable  height  among  wonderful  volcanic 
formations,  mounds  of  scoriae,  and  outcrops  of  volcanic 
rock,  hills  of  all  shapes  fantastically  tumbled  about, 
chiefly  black,  looking  as  if  their  fires  had  only  just  died 
out,  streaked  and  splotched  with  brilliant  ash — orange, 
carmine,  and  green — a  remarkable  volcanic  scene,  backed 
by  higher  hills  looking  ghastly  in  the  snow. 

After   passing  over   an  absolutely  solitary  region  of 

camel-brown  plains  and  slopes  at  a  gallop,  M a  little 

in  front  always,  and  Abbas  Khan,  the  wildest  figure 
imaginable,  always  half  a  length  behind,  the  thud  of  the 
thundering  hoofs  mingling  with  the  screech  of  the  cutting 
north  wind  which,  coming  over  the  snowy  Elburz  range, 
benumbed  every  joint,  on  the  slope  of  a  black  volcanic  hill 
we  came  upon  the  lofty  towers  and  gaudy  tiled  front  of 


LETTER  vm  A  "MADE  ROAD"  175 

this  great  caravanserai,  imposing  at  a  distance  in  the 
solitude  and  snow  clouds,  but  shabby  on  a  nearer  view, 
and  tending  to  disintegrate  from  the  presence  of  saltpetre 
in  the  bricks  and  mortar. 

There  are  successions  of  terraces  and  tanks  of  water 
with  ducks  and  geese  upon  them,  and  buildings  round 
the  topmost  terrace  intended  to  be  imposing.  The  seraidar 
is  expecting  the  Amin-es-Sultan  (the  Prime 'Minister)  and 
his  train,  who  will  occupy  rather  a  fine  though  tawdry 
"suite  of  apartments";  but  though  they  were  at  our 
service,  I  prefer  the  comparative  cosiness  of  a  small,  dark, 
damp  room,  though  with  a  very  smoky  chimney,  as  I 
find  to  my  cost. 

British  Legation,  Tiliran,  Feb.  26. — The  night  was 
very  cold,  and  the  reveille  specially  unwelcome  in  the 
morning.  The  people  were  more  than  usually  vague 
about  the  length  of  the  march,  some  giving  the  distance 
at  twenty-five  miles,  and  others  making  it  as  high  as 
thirty-eight.  As  we  did  a  good  deal  of  galloping  and  yet 
took  more  than  seven  hours,  I  suppose  it  may  be  about 
twenty-eight.  Fortunately  we  could  desert  the  caravan, 
as  the  caravanserais  are  furnished  and  supply  tea  and 
bread.  The  baggage  mules  took  ten  hours  for  the  march. 

The  day  was  dry  and  sunny,  and  the  scenery,  if  such 
a  tract  of  hideousness  can  be  called  scenery,  was  at  its 
best.  Its  one  charm  lies  in  the  solitude  and  freedom  of 
a  vast  unpeopled  waste. 

The  "  made  road  "  degenerates  for  the  most  part  into 
a  track  "made"  truly,  but  rather  by  the  passage  of 
thousands  of  animals  during  a  long  course  of  ages  than 
by  men's  hands.  This  track  winds  among  low  ranges  of 
sand  and  mud  hills,  through  the  "  Pass  of  the  Angel  of 
Death,"  crosses  salt  and  muddy  streams,  gravelly  stretches, 
and  quagmires  of  mud  and  tenacious  clay,  passing  through 
a  country  on  the  whole  inconceivably  hideous,  unfinished, 


176  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vm 

frothy,  and  saturated  with  salt — the  great  brown  desert 
which  extends  from  Tihran  to  Quetta  in  Beloochistan, 
a  distance  of  2000  miles. 

On  a  sunny  slope  we  met  the  Prime  Minister  with  a 
considerable  train  of  horsemen.  He  stopped  and  spoke 
with  extreme  courtesy,  through  an  interpreter,  for,  unlike 
most  Persians  of  the  higher  class,  he  does  not  speak 
French.  He  said  we  had  been  for  some  time  expected  at 
Tihran,  and  that  great  fears  were  entertained  for  our 
safety,  which  we  had  heard  at  Kum.  He  is  a  pleasant- 
looking  man  with  a  rather  European  expression,  not  more 
than  thirty-two  or  thirty-three,  and  in  spite  of  intrigues 
and  detractors  has  managed  to  keep  his  hazardous  position 
for  some  years.  His  mother  was  lately  buried  at  Kum, 
and  he  was  going  thither  on  pilgrimage.  After  the  usual 
compliments  he  bowed  his  farewells,  and  the  gay  pro- 
cession with  its  brilliant  trappings  and  prancing  horses 
flashed  by.  The  social  standing  of  a  Persian  is  evidenced 
by  the  size  of  his  retinue,  and  the  first  of  the  Shah's 
subjects  must  have  been  attended  by  fully  forty  well- 
mounted  men,  besides  a  number  of  servants  who  were 
riding  with  his  baggage  animals. 

Shortly  after  passing  him  a  turn  among  the  hills 
brought  the  revelation  through  snow  clouds  of  the  magni- 
ficent snow-covered  chain  of  the  Elburz  mountains,  with 
the  huge  cone  of  Demavend,  their  monarch,  18,600  feet l  in 
height,  towering  high  above  them, gleaming  sunlit  above  the 
lower  cloud-masses.  Swampy  water-courses,  a  fordable 
river  crossed  by  a  broad  bridge  of  five  arches,  more  low 
hills,  more  rolling  desert,  then  a  plain  of  mud  irrigated 
for  cultivation,  difficult  ground  for  the  horses,  the  ruins 
of  a  deserted  village  important  enough  to  have  possessed 
two  imamzadas,  and  then  we  reached  the  Husseinabad, 
which  has  very  good  guest-rooms,  with  mirrors  on  the  walls. 

1  The  altitude  of  Demavend  is  variously  stated. 


LETTER  viii  A  SEA  OF  MUD  177 

This  caravanserai  is  only  one  march  from  Tihran,  and 
it  seemed  as  if  all  difficulties  were  over.  Abbas  Khan 
and  the  sick  orderly  were  sent  on  early,  with  a  baggage 
mule  loaded  with  evening  dress  and  other  necessities 
of  civilisation;  the  caravan  was  to  follow  at  leisure,  and 
M and  I  started  at  ten,  without  attendants,  expect- 
ing to  reach  Tihran  early  in  the  afternoon. 

It  is  six  days  since  that  terrible  ride  of  ten  hours 
and  a  half,  and  my  bones  ache  as  I  recall  it.  I  never 
wish  to  mount  a  horse  again.  It  had  been  a  very  cold 
night,  and  for  some  time  after  we  started  it  was  doubtful 
whether  snow  or  rain  would  gain  the  day,  but  after  an 
hour  of  wet  snow  it  decided  on  rain,  and  there  was  a 
steady  downpour  all  day.  The  Elburz  range,  which  the 
day  before  had  looked  so  magnificent  when  fifty  miles 
off,  was  blotted  out.  This  was  a  great  disappointment. 

An  ascent  of  low,  blackish  volcanic  hills  is  made  by 
a  broad  road  of  gray  gravel,  which  a  torrent  has  at  some 
time  frequented.  Thorns  and  thistles  grow  there,  and 
skeletons  of  animals  abound.  Everything  is  grim  and 
gray.  From  these  hills  we  descended  into  the  Kavir,  a 
rolling  expanse  of  friable  soil,  stoneless,  strongly  impreg- 
nated with  salt,  but  only  needing  sufficient  water  to  wash 
the  salt  out  of  it  and  to  irrigate  it  to  become  as  prolific  as 
it  is  now  barren. 

It  is  now  a  sea  of  mud  crossed  by  a  broad  road  in- 
dicated by  dykes,  that  never-to-be-forgotten  mud  growing 
deeper  as  the  day  wore  on.  Hour  after  hour  we  plunged 
through  it,  sometimes  trying  the  road,  and  on  finding 
it  impassable  scrambling  through  the  ditches  and  over 
the  dykes  to  the  plain,  which  after  offering  firmer  foot- 
hold for  a  time  became  such  a  "  slough  of  despond  "  that 
we  had  to  scramble  back  to  the  road,  and  so  on,  hour  after 
hour,  meeting  nothing  but  one  ghastly  caravan  of  corpses, 
and  wretched  asses  falling  in  the  mud. 

VOL.  I  N 


178  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vm 

At  mid-day,  scrambling  up  a  gravel  hill  with  a  little 
wormwood  upon  it,  and  turning  my  back  to  the  heavy 
rain,  I  ate  a  lunch  of  dates  and  ginger,  insufficient  sus- 
tenance for  such  fatigue.  On  again ! — the  rain  pouring, 
the  mud  deepening,  my  spine  in  severe  pain.  We  turned 
off  to  a  caravanserai,  mostly  a  heap  of  ruins,  the  roofs 
having  given  way  under  the  weight  of  the  snow,  and  there 
I  sought  some  relief  from  pain  by  lying  down  for  the  short 
thirty  minutes  which  could  be  spared  in  the  seraidar's 
damp  room.  It  was  then  growing  late  in  the  afternoon, 
all  landmarks  had  disappeared  in  a  brooding  mist,  there 
were  no  habitations,  and  no  human  beings  of  whom  to 
ask  the  way. 

The  pain  returned  severely  as  soon  as  I  mounted,  and 
increased  till  it  became  hardly  bearable.  Ceaseless  mud, 
ceaseless  heavy  rain,  a  plain  of  mud,  no  refuge  from  mud 
and  water,  attempts  to  gallop  were  made  with  the  risk  of 

the  horses  falling  into  holes  and  even  kanaats.  M 

rode  in  front.  Not  a  word  was  spoken.  A  gleaming 
dome,  with  minarets  and  wood,  appeared  below  the  Shim- 
ran  hills.  Unluckily,  where  two  roads  met  one  looked 
impassable  and  we  took  the  other,  which,  though  it 
eventually  took  us  to  Tihran,  was  a  ddtour  of  some 
miles. 

In  the  evening,  when  I  was  hoping  that  Tihran  was 
at  hand,  we  reached  the  town  of  Shah  Abdul  Azim,  built 
among  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  city,  either  Ehages  or  Ehei. 
The  gilded  dome  is  the  shrine  of  Abdul  Azim,  and  is  a 
great  place  of  pilgrimage  of  the  picnic  order  from  Tihran. 
The  one  railroad  of  Persia  runs  from  the  capital  to  this 
town.  As  we  floundered  in  darkness  along  wide  roads 
planted  with  trees,  there  was  the  incongruity  of  a  railway 
whistle,  and  with  deep  breathing  and  much  glare  an 
engine  with  some  carriages  passed  near  the  road,  taking 
away  with  its  harsh  Western  noises  that  glorious  freedom 


LETTER  vin  BIDING  AGAINST  TIME  179 

of  the  desert  which  outweighs  all  the  hardship  even  of  a 
winter  journey. 

It  was  several  miles  from  thence  to  the  gate  of  Tihran. 
It  was  nearly  pitch  dark  when  we  got  out  of  Abdul  Azim 
and  the  rain  still  fell  heavily.  In  that  thick  rainy  dark- 
ness no  houses  were  visible,  even  if  they  exist,  there 
were  no  passengers  on  foot  or  on  horseback,  it  was  a 
"  darkness  which  might  be  felt." 

There  was  a  causeway  which  gave  foothold  below  the 
mud,  but  it  was  full  of  holes  and  broken  culverts,  deep 
in  slime,  and  seemed  to  have  water  on  each  side  not 
particular  in  keeping  within  bounds.  It  was  necessary  to 
get  on,  lest  the  city  gates  should  be  shut,  and  by  lifting 
and  spurring  the  jaded  horses  they  were  induced  to  trot 
and  canter  along  that  road  of  pitfalls.  I  have  had  many 
a  severe  ride  in  travelling,  but  never  anything  equal  to 
that  last  two  hours.  The  severe  pain  and  want  of  food 
made  me  so  faint  that  I  was  obliged  to  hold  on  to 
the  saddle.  I  kept  my  tired  horse  up,  but  each  flounder 
I  thought  would  be  his  last.  There  was  no  guidance 
but  an  occasional  flash  from  the  hoofs  of  the  horse  in 
front,  and  the  word  "  spur  "  ringing  through  the  darkness. 

After  an  hour  of  riding  in  this  desperate  fashion 
we  got  into  water,  and  among  such  dangerous  holes 
that  from  that  point  we  were  obliged  to  walk  our 
horses,  who  though  they  were  half  dead  still  feebly  re- 
sponded to  bit  and  spur.  We  reached  the  dimly-lighted 
city  gate  just  as  half  of  it  was  shut,  and  found  Abbas 
Khan  waiting  there.  The  caravan  with  the  other  sick 
men  never  reached  Tihran  till  late  the  next  morning. 

At  the  gate  we  learned  that  it  was  two  miles  farther 
to  the  British  Legation,  and  that  there  was  no  way  for 
me  to  get  there  but  on  horseback.  One  lives  through  a 
good  deal,  but  I  all  but  succumbed  to  the  pain  and  faint- 
ness.  Inside  the  gate  there  was  an  open  sea  of  liquid  mud, 


180  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  vm 

across  which,  for  a  time,  certain  lights  shed  their  broken 
reflections.  There  was  a  railway  shriek,  and  then  the 
appearance  of  a  station  with  shunting  operations  vaguely 
seen  in  a  vague  glare. 

Then  a  tramway  track  buried  under  several  inches  of 
slush  came  down  a  slope,  and  crowded  tramway  cars  with 
great  single  lamps  came  down  the  narrow  road  on 
horses  too  tired  to  be  frightened,  and  almost  too  tired  to 
get  out  of  the  way.  Then  came  a  street  of  mean  houses 
and  meaner  shops  lighted  with  kerosene  lamps,  a  region 
like  the  slums  of  a  new  American  city,  with  cafis  and 
saloons,  barbers'  shops,  and  European  enormities  such  as 
gazogenes  and  effervescing  waters  in  several  windows. 
Later,  there  were  frequent  foot  passengers  preceded  by 
servants  carrying  huge  waxed  cambric  lanterns  of  a 
Chinese  shape,  then  a  square  with  barracks  and  artillery, 
a  causewayed  road  dimly  lit,  then  darkness  and  heavier 
rain  and  worse  mud,  through  which  the  strange  spectacle 
of  a  carriage  and  pair  incongruously  flashed. 

By  that  time  even  the  courage  and  stamina  of  an 
Arab  horse  could  hardly  keep  mine  on  his  legs,  and  with 
a  swimming  head  and  dazed  brain  I  could  hardly  guide 
him,  as  I  had  done  from  the  gate  chiefly  by  the  wan 
gleam  of  Abbas  Khan's  pale  horse ;  and  expecting  to  fall 
off  every  minute,  I  responded  more  and  more  feebly  and 
dubiously  to  the  question  frequently  repeated  out  of  the 
darkness,  "  Are  you  surviving  ? " 

Just  as  endurance  was  on  the  point  of  giving  way,  we 
turned  from  the  road  through  a  large  gateway  into  the 
extensive  grounds  which  surround  the  British  Legation, 
a  large  building  forming  three  sides  of  a  quadrangle, 
with  a  fine  stone  staircase  leading  up  to  the  central  door. 
Every  window  was  lighted,  light  streamed  from  the  open 
door,  splashed  carriages  were  dashing  up  and  setting 
down  people  in  evening  dress,  there  were  crowds  of 


LETTER  vm  THE  JOURNEY'S  END  181 

servants  about,  and  it  flashed  on  my  dazed  senses  that 
it  must  be  after  eight,  and  that  there  was  a  dinner  party  ! 

Arriving  from  the  mud  of  the  Kavir  and  the  slush  of 
the  streets,  after  riding  ten  hours  in  ceaseless  rain  on 
a  worn-out  horse ;  caked  with  mud  from  head  to  foot, 
dripping,  exhausted,  nearly  blind  from  fatigue,  fresh  from 
mud  hovels  and  the  congenial  barbarism  of  the  desert, 
and  with  the  rags  and  travel-stains  of  a  winter  journey 
of  forty-six  days  upon  me,  light  and  festivity  were  over- 
whelming. 

Alighting  at  a  side  door,  scarcely  able  to  stand,  I  sat 
down  in  a  long  corridor,  and  heard  from  an  English  steward 
that  "  dinner  is  waiting."  His  voice  sounded  very  far  off, 
and  the  once  familiar  announcement  came  like  a  memory 
out  of  the  remote  past.  Presently  a  gentleman  appeared 
in  evening  dress,  wearing  a  star,  which  conveyed  to  my  fast- 
failing  senses  that  it  was  Sir  H.  Drummond  Wolff.  It 
was  true  that  there  was  a  large  dinner  party,  and  among  the 
guests  the  Minister  with  thoughtful  kindness  had  invited 
all  to  whom  I  had  letters  of  introduction.  But  it  was 
no  longer  possible  to  make  any  effort,  and  I  was  taken  up 
to  a  room  in  which  the  comforts  of  English  civilisation 
at  first  made  no  impression  upon  me,  and  removing  only 
the  mackintosh  cloak,  weighted  with  mud,  which  had 
served  me  so  well,  I  lay  down  on  the  hearthrug  before  a 
great  coal  fire  till  four  o'clock  the  next  morning.  And  "  so 
the  tale  ended,"  and  the  winter  journey  with  its  tremen- 
dous hardships  and  unbounded  mercies  was  safely  accom- 
plished.1 I.  L.  B. 

1  I  remained  for  three  weeks  as  Sir  H.  Drummond  Wolffs  guest  at  the 
British  Legation,  receiving  from  him  that  courtesy  and  considerate  kind- 
ness which  all  who  have  been  under  his  roof  delight  to  recall.  I  saw 
much  of  what  is  worth  seeing  in  Tihran,  including  the  Shah  and  several 
of  the  Persian  statesmen,  and  left  the  Legation  with  every  help  that 
could  be  given  for  a  long  and  difficult  journey  into  the  mountains  of 
Luristan. 


182  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  NOTES 


IT  is  a  matter  of  individual  taste,  but  few  cities  in  the 
East  interest  me  in  which  national  characteristics  in 
architecture,  costume,  customs,  and  ways  generally  are 
either  being  obliterated  or  are  undergoing  a  partial 
remodelling  on  "Western  lines.  An  Eastern  city  pure  and 
simple,  such  as  Canton,  Niigata,  or  Baghdad,  even  with 
certain  drawbacks,  forms  a  harmonious  whole  gratifying 
to  the  eye  and  to  a  certain  sense  of  fitness ;  while  Cairo, 
Tokio,  Lahore,  and  I  will  now  add  Tihran,  produce  the 
effect  of  a  series  of  concussions. 

Tihran — set  down  on  a  plain,  a  scorched  desert,  the 
sublimity  of  which  is  interfered  with  by  Jcanaats  or  under- 
ground watercourses  with  their  gravel  mounds  and  ruin- 
ous shafts — has  few  elements  of  beauty  or  grandeur 
in  its  situation,  even  though  "  the  triumphant  barbarism 
of  the  desert "  sweeps  up  to  its  gates,  and  the  scored  and 
channelled  Shimran  range,  backed  by  the  magnificent 
peak,  or  rather  cone,  of  Demavend,  runs  to  the  north-east 
of  the  city  within  only  ten  miles  of  its  walls. 

The  winter  with  its  snow  and  slush  disappeared 
abruptly  two  days  after  I  reached  Tihran,  and  as  abruptly 
came  the  spring — a  too  transient  enjoyment — and  in  a  few 
days  to  brownness  and  barrenness  succeeded  a  tender 

1  A  volume  of  travels  in  Persia  would  scarcely  be  complete  without  some 
slight  notice  of  the  northern  capital ;  but  for  detailed  modern  accounts  of 
it  the  reader  should  consult  various  other  books,  especially  Dr.  Wills'  and 
Mr.  Benjamin's,  if  he  has  not  already  done  so. 


TIHRAN  ASPECTS  OF  TIHRAN  183 

mist  of  green  over  the  trees  in  the  watered  gardens, 
rapidly  thickening  into  dark  leafage  in  which  the  bulbul 
sang,  and  nature  helped  by  art  spread  a  carpet  of  violets 
and  irises  over  the  brown  earth.  But  all  of  verdure  and 
greenery  that  there  is  lies  within  the  city  walls.  Out- 
side is  the  unconquerable  desert,  rolling  in  endless  shades 
of  buff  and  brown  up  to  the  Elburz  range,  and  elsewhere 
to  the  far  horizon. 

Situated  in  the  most  depressed  part  of  an  uninteresting 
waste  in  Lat.  35°  40'  N.  and  Long.  51°  25'  E., 
and  at  an  altitude  of  3800  feet,  the  climate  is  one 
of  extremes,  the  summer  extreme  being  the  most  severe. 
For  some  weeks  the  heat  is  nearly  insupportable,  and  the 
Legations,  and  all  of  the  four  hundred  Europeans  who  are 
not  bound  to  the  city  by  a  fate  which  they  execrate, 
betake  themselves  to  "yailaks,"  or  summer  quarters  on 
the  slopes  of  the  adjacent  mountains. 

Entering  Tihran  in  the  darkness,  it  was  not  till  I  saw 
it  coming  back  from  Gulahek,  the  "  yailak  "  of  the  British 
Legation,  when  the  mud  was  drying  up  and  the  willows 
were  in  their  first  young  green,  that  I  formed  any  definite 
idea  of  its  aspect,  which  is  undeniably  mean,  and  presents 
no  evidences  of  antiquity ;  indeed,  it  has  no  right  to  present 
any,  for  as  a  capital  it  only  came  into  existence  a  century 
ago,  with  the  first  king  of  the  present  Kajar  dynasty. 
The  walls  are  said  to  be  eleven'miles  in  circuit,  and  give 
the  impression  of  being  much  too  large,  so  many  are  the 
vacant  spaces  within  them.  They  consist  chiefly  of  a 
broad  ditch,  and  a  high  sloping  rampart  without  guns. 
Twelve  well-built  domed  gateways  give  access  to  the  city. 
These  are  decorated  with  glazed  tiles  of  bright  colours 
and  somewhat  gaudy  patterns  and  designs,  representing 
genii,  lions,  and  combats  of  mythical  heroes. 

Above  the  wall  are  seen  tree -tops,  some  tile-covered 
minarets,  the  domes  of  two  mosques,  and  the  iron  ribs  of 


184  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  NOTES 

a  roofless  theatre  in  the  Shah's  garden,  in  which  under  a 
temporary  awning  the  Tazieh  or  Passion  Play  (elsewhere 
referred  to)  is  acted  once  a  year  in  presence  of  the  Shah 
and  several  thousand  spectators. 

Entering  by  a  gateway  over  which  is  depicted  a  scene 
in  the  life  of  Eustem,  the  Achilles  of  Persia,  or  by  the 
Sheikh  Abdul  Azim  gate,  where  the  custom-house  is 
established  and  through  which  all  caravans  of  goods 
must  reach  Tihran,  the  magnitude  of  the  untidy  vacant 
spaces,  and  the  shabby  mud  hovels  which  fringe  them, 
create  an  unfavourable  impression.  Then  there  are  the 
inevitable  ruinousness,  the  alleys  with  broken  gutters  in 
the  centre,  the  pools  of  slime  or  the  heaps  of  dust  accord- 
ing to  the  weather,  and  the  general  shabbiness  of  blank 
walls  of  sun-dried  bricks  which  give  one  the  impression, 
I  believe  an  unjust  one,  of  decay  and  retrogression.  I 
never  went  through  those '  mean  outskirts  of  Tihran 
which  are  within  the  city  walls  without  being  reminded 
of  a  man  in  shabby  clothes  preposterously  too  big  for  him. 

The  population  is  variously  estimated  at  from  60,000 
to  160,000  souls.  It  varies  considerably  with  the 
presence  or  absence  of  the  Court.  The  streets  and 
bazars  are  usually  well  filled  with  people,  and  I  did  not 
see  many  beggars  or  evidences  of  extreme  poverty,  even 
in  the  Jewish  quarter.  On  the  whole  it  impressed  me 
as  a  bustling  place,  but  the  bustle  is  not  picturesque.  It 
is  framed  in  mean  surroundings,  and  there  is  little  variety 
in  costume,  and  much  sober  if  not  sad  colouring. 

In  "  old "  Tihran  the  alleys  are  crooked,  dirty,  and 
narrow,  and  the  bazars  chiefly  frequented  by  the  poor  are 
very  mean  and  untidy ;  but  the  better  bazars,  whether 
built  as  some  are,  round  small  domed  open  spaces,  or  in 
alleys  roofed  with  low  brick  domes,  are  decidedly  handsome, 
and  are  light,  wide,  clean,  and  in  every  way  adapted  for 
the  purposes  of  buying  and  selling.  European  women, 


TIHRAN  HORSE  FURNITURE  185 

even  though  unattended,  can  walk   through  them  quite 
freely  without  being  mobbed  or  stared  at. 

The  best  bazars  are  piled  with  foreign  merchandise,  to 
the  apparent  exclusion  of  native  goods,  which,  if  they  are 
of  the  better  quality,  must  be  searched  for  in  out-of-the-way 
corners.  Indeed,  if  people  want  fine  carpets,  curios,  rich 
embroideries,  inlaid  arms,  and  Kerman  stuffs,  they  must 
resort  to  the  itinerant  dealers,  who  gauge  the  tastes  and 
purchasing  powers  of  every  European  resident  and  visitor, 
and  who  may  be  seen  at  all  hours  gliding  in  a  sort  of 
surreptitious  fashion  round  the  Legation  compounds, 
conveying  their  beautiful  temptations  on  donkeys'  backs. 

It  is  chiefly  in  the  fine  lofty  saddlery  bazar  and  some 
small  bazars  that  native  manufactures  are  en  Evidence. 
All  travelling  is  on  horseback,  and  the  Persian,  though 
sober  in  the  colours  of  his  costly  clothing,  loves  crimson 
and  gold  in  leather  and  cloth,  embroidered  housings  and 
headstalls,  and  gorgeous  saddle-covers  for  his  horse.  The 
usual  saddle  is  of  plain  wood,  very  high  before  and  behind, 
and  without  stuffing.  A  thick  soft  namad  or  piece  of 
felt  covers  the  horse's  back,  and  over  this  are  placed  two 
or  more  saddle-cloths  covered  with  a  very  showy  and 
often  highly  ornamental  cover,  with  tasselled  ends, 
embroidered  in  gold  and  silks  and  occasionally  with  real 
gems.  The  saddle  itself  is  smoothly  covered  with  a  soft 
ornamental  cover  made  to  fit  it,  and  the  crupper,  breast- 
plate, and  headstall  are  frequently  of  crimson  leather 
embroidered  in  gold,  or  stitched  ingeniously  with  turquoise 
beads. 

The  mule,  whether  the  pacing  saddle -mule  worth 
from  £60  to  £80,  much  affected  by  rich  Persians  in 
Tihran,  or  the  humbler  beast  of  burden,  is  not  forgotten  by 
the  traders  in  the  great  saddlery  bazar.  Eich  charvadars 
take  great  pride  in  the  "  outfit "  of  their  mules,  and  do 
not  grudge  twenty  tumans  upon  it.  Hence  are  to  be  seen 


186  JOURNEYS  IN  PEESIA  NOTES 

elaborate  headstalls,  breastplates,  and  straps  for  bells,  of 
showy  embroidery,  and  leather  stitched  completely  over 
with  turquoise  beads  and  cowries — the  latter  a  favourite 
adornment — while  cowried  headstalls  are  also  ornamented 
with  rows  of  woollen  tassels  dyed  with  beautiful  vegetable 
dyes.  In  this  bazar  too  are  found  khurjins — the  great 
leather  or  carpet  saddle-bags  without  which  it  is  incon- 
venient to  travel — small  leather  portmanteaus  for  strap- 
ping behind  the  saddles  of  those  who  travel  chapar,  i.e.  post, 
— cylindrical  cases  over  two  feet  long  which  are  attached 
in  front  of  the  saddle — decorated  holsters,  the  multifarious 
gear  required  for  the  travelling  pipe-bearers,  the  deep  leather 
belts  which  are  worn  by  chapar  riders,  the  leathern  water- 
bottles  which  are  slung  on  the  saddles,  the  courier  bags, 
and  a  number  of  other  articles  of  necessity  or  luxury 
which  are  regarded  as  essential  by  the  Persian  traveller. 

In  most  of  the  bazars  the  shops  are  packed  to  the 
ceiling  with  foreign  goods.  It  looks  as  if  there  were 
cottons  and  woollen  cloth  for  the  clothing  of  all  Persia. 
I  saw  scarcely  any  rough  woollen  goods  or  shoddy.  The 
Persian  wears  superfine,  smooth,  costly  cloth,  chiefly  black 
and  fawn,  stiff  in  texture,  and  with  a  dull  shine  upon 
it.  The  best  comes  exclusively  from  Austria,  a  slightly 
inferior  quality  from  Germany,  and  such  cloth  fabrics 
as  are  worn  by  Europeans  from  England  and  Eussia. 

The  European  cottons,  which  are  slowly  but  surely 
displacing  the  heavy  durable  native  goods,  either  undyed, 
or  dyed  at  Isfahan  with  madder,  saffron,  and  indigo,  are 
of  colours  and  patterns  suited  to  native  taste,  white  and 
canary  yellow  designs  on  a  red  ground  predominating,  and 
are  both  of  Eussian  and  English  make,  and  the  rivalry 
which  extends  from  the  Indian  frontier,  through  Central 
Asia,  is  at  fever-heat  in  the  cotton  bazars  of  Tihran.  It 
does  not  appear  that  at  present  either  side  can  claim  the 
advantage. 


TIHBAN  EUROPEAN  GOODS  187 

In  a  search  for  writing  paper,  thread,  tapes,  and  what 
are  known  as  "  small  wares,"  I  never  saw  anything  that 
was  not  Russian.  The  cheap  things,  such  as  oil  lamps, 
samovars,  coarse  coloured  prints  of  the  Eussian  Imperial 
family  in  tawdry  frames,  lacquered  tin  boxes,  fitted  work- 
boxes,  glass  teacups,  china  tea-pots,  tawdry  lacquered 
trays,  glass  brooches,  bead  necklaces,  looking-glasses,  and 
a  number  of  other  things  which  are  coming  into  use  at 
least  in  the  south-west  and  the  western  portions  of  the 
Empire,  are  almost  exclusively  Eussian,  as  is  natural,  for 
the  low  price  at  which  they  are  sold  would  leave  no  mar- 
gin of  profit  on  such  imports  from  a  more  distant  country. 

A  stroll  through  the  Tihran  bazars  shows  the  observer 
something  of  the  extent  and  rapidity  with  which  Europe 
is  ruining  the  artistic  taste  of  Asia.  Masses  of  rubbish, 
atrocious  in  colouring  and  hideous  in  form,  the  principle 
of  shoddy  carried  into  all  articles  along  with  the  quint- 
essence of  vulgarity  which  is  pretence,  goods  of  nominal 
utility  which  will  not  stand  a  week's  wear,  the  refuse  of 
European  markets — in  art  Philistinism,  in  most  else 
"  Brummagem,"  without  a  quality  of  beauty  or  solidity  to 
recommend  them — are  training  the  tastes  and  changing 
the  habits  of  the  people. 

One  squarish  bazar,  much  resorted  to  for  glass  and 
hardware  and  what  the  Americans  call  "  assorted  notions," 
is  crammed  with  Austrian  glass,  kerosene  lamps  of  all 
sizes  in  hundreds,  chandeliers,  etc.  The  amount  of  glass 
exhibited  there  for  sale  is  extraordinary,  and  not  less 
remarkable  is  the  glut  of  cheap  hardware  and  worthless 
bijouterie.  It  is  the  Lowther  Arcade  put  down  in  Tihran. 

Kerosene  and  candles  may  be  called  a  Eussian  mono- 
poly, and  Eussia  has  completely  driven  French  sugar  from 
the  markets.  In  the  foreign  town,  as  it  may  be  called, 
there  are  two  or  three  French  shops,  an  American  shop 
for  "  notions,"  and  a  German  chemist. 


188  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  NOTES 

The  European  quarter  is  in  the  northern  part  of  Tihran, 
and  is  close  to  vacant  and  airy  spaces.  There  are 
the  Turkish  Embassy,  and  the  Legations  of  England, 
France,  Germany,  Russia,  Italy,  Belgium,  Austria,  and 
America,  and  a  Dutch  Consulate-General,  each  with  its 
Persian  gholams  who  perform  escort  duty.  Their  large 
and  shady  compounds,  brightened  by  their  national  flags, 
and  the  stir  and  circumstance  which  surround  them,  are 
among  the  features  of  the  city.  The  finest  of  all  the 
Legation  enclosures  is  that  of  England,  which  is  beautifully 
wooded  and  watered.  The  reception-rooms  and  hall  of  the 
Minister's  residence  are  very  handsome,  and  a  Byzantine 
clock  tower  gives  the  building  a  striking  air  of  distinction. 
The  grounds  contain  several  detached  houses,  occupied  by 
the  secretaries  and  others. 

A  very  distinct  part  of  the  foreign  quarter  is  that 
occupied  by  the  large  and  handsome  buildings  of  the 
American  Presbyterian  Mission,  which  consist  of  a  church 
occupied  at  stated  hours  by  a  congregation  of  the  Eeformed 
Armenian  Church,  and  in  which  in  the  afternoons  of 
Sundays  Dr.  Potter,  the  senior  missionary,  reads  the 
English  Liturgy  and  preaches  an  English  sermon  for  the 
benefit  of  the  English-speaking  residents,  very  fine  board- 
ing-schools for  Armenian  girls  and  boys,  and  the  houses  of 
the  missionaries — three  clerical,  one  medical,  and  several 
ladies,  one  of  whom  is  an  M.D. 

Outside  this  fine  enclosure  is  a  Medical  Missionary 
Dispensary,  and  last  year,  in  a  good  situation  at  a  con- 
siderable distance,  a  very  fine  medical  missionary  hospital 
was  completed.  The  boys'  and  girls'  schools  are  of  a  very 
high  class.  To  my  thinking  the  pupils  are  too  much 
Europeanised  in  dress  and  habits ;  but  I  understand  that 
this  is  at  the  desire  of  the  Armenian  parents.  The 
missionaries  are  not  allowed  to  receive  Moslem  pupils ; 
but  besides  Armenians  they  educate  Jewish  youths,  some 


TIHRAN  MODERN  IMPROVEMENTS  189 

of  whom  have  become  Christians,  and  a  few  Guebres  or 
Zoroastrians. 

I  do  not  think  that  the  capital  is  a  hopeful  place  for 
missionary  work.  The  presence  of  Europeans  of  various 
creeds  and  nationalities  complicates  matters,  and  the  fine, 
perhaps  too  fine,  mission  buildings  in  proximity  to  the 
houses  of  wealthy  foreigners  are  at  so  great  a  distance 
from  the  Moslem  and  Jewish  quarters,  that  persons  who 
might  desire  to  make  inquiries  concerning  the  Christian 
faith  must  be  deterred  both  by  the  space  to  be  traversed 
and  the  conspicuousness  of  visiting  a  mission  compound 
in  such  a  position.  The  members  of  the  mission  church 
last  year  were  altogether  Armenians.  The  education  and 
training  given  in  the  schools  are  admirable. 

Indications  of  the  changes  which  we  consider  improve- 
ments abound  in  Tihran.  There  are  many  roads  accessible 
to  wheeled  vehicles.  There  are  hackney  carriages.  A 
tramway  carrying  thousands  of  passengers  weekly  has 
been  laid  down  from  the  Maidan  or  central  square  to  one 
of  the  southern  gates.  There  are  real  streets  paved  with 
cobble  stones,  and  bordered  with  definite  sidewalks,  young 
trees,  and  shops.  There  is  a  railroad  about  four  miles 
long,  from  the  city  to  the  village  of  Sheikh  Abdul  Azim. 
There  are  lamp-posts  and  fittings,  though  the  light  is 
somewhat  of  a  failure.  There  is  an  organised  city  police, 
in  smart  black  uniforms  with  violet  facings,  under  the 
command  of  Count  Monteforte,  aii  Italian.  Soldiers 
in  Europeanised  uniforms  abound,  some  of  them,  the 
"  Persian  Cossacks,"  in  full  Eussian  uniforms ;  and  military 
bands  instructed  by  a  French  bandmaster  play  European 
airs,  not  always  easily  recognisable,  for  the  pleasure  of 
the  polyglot  public. 

All  ordinary  business  can  be  transacted  at  the 
Imperial  Bank,  which,  having  acquired  the  branches  and 
business  of  the  New  Oriental  Bank,  bids  fair  to  reign 


190  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  NOTES 

supreme  in  the  commercial  world  of  Persia,  the  Shah, 
who  has  hitherto  kept  his  hoards  under  his  own  eye, 
having  set  an  example  of  confidence  by  becoming  a 
depositor. 

European  tailors,  dressmakers,  and  milliners  render  a 
resort  to  Europe  unnecessary.  There  are  at  least  two 
hotels  where  a  European  may  exist.  About  five  hundred 
European  carriages,  many  of  them  Eussian,  with  showy 
Eussian  horses  harnessed  fa  la  Eusse,  dash  about  the 
streets  with  little  regard  to  pedestrians,  though  an 
accident,  if  a  European  were  the  offender,  might  lead  to  a 
riot.  The  carriages  of  the  many  Legations  are  recognis- 
able by  their  outriders,  handsomely-dressed  gholams. 

But  even  the  European  quarter  and  its  newish  road, 
on  which  are  many  of  the  Legations,  some  of  the  foreign 
shops,  and  the  fine  compound  and  handsome  buildings  of 
the  Imperial  Bank,  has  a  Persian  admixture.  Some  of 
the  stately  houses  of  official  and  rich  Persians  are  there, 
easily  recognisable  by  their  low  closed  gateways  and 
general  air  of  seclusion.  Many  of  these  possess  exquisite 
gardens,  with  fountains  and  tanks,  and  all  the  arrange- 
ments for  the  out-of-doors  life  which  Persians  love.  In 
the  early  spring  afternoons  the  great  sight  of  the  road 
outside  the  British  Legation  is  the  crowd  of  equestrians, 
or  rather  of  the  horses  they  ride.  However  much  the 
style  of  street,  furniture,  tastes,  art,  and  costume  have 
been  influenced  by  Europe,  fortunately  for  picturesque 
effect  the  Persian,  even  in  the  capital,  retains  the  Persian 
saddle  and  equipments. 

From  later  observation  I  am  inclined  to  think  very 
highly  of  the  hardiness  and  stamina  of  the  Persian  horse, 
though  at  the  time  of  my  visit  to  Tib  ran  I  doubted  both. 
Such  showy,  magnificent -looking  animals,  broken  to  a 
carriage  which  shows  them  to  the  best  advantage,  fine- 
legged,  though  not  at  the  expense  of  strength,  small-eared, 


TIHRAN  PERSIAN  HORSES  191 

small-mouthed,  with  flowing  wavy  manes,  "  necks  clothed 
with  thunder,"  dilated  nostrils  showing  the  carmine 
interior,  and  a  look  of  scorn  and  high  breeding,  I  never 
saw  elsewhere.  The  tail,  which  in  obedience  to  fashion 
we  mutilate  and  abridge,  is  allowed  in  Persia  its  full 
development,  and  except  in  the  case  of  the  Shah's  white 
horses,  when  it  is  dyed  magenta,  is  perfectly  beautiful, 
held  far  from  the  body  like  a  flag.  The  arched  neck, 
haughty  bearing,  and  easy  handling  which  Easterns  love 
are  given  by  very  sharp  bits;  and  a  crowd  of  these 
beautiful  animals  pawing  the  ground,  prancing,  caracoling, 
walking  with  a  gait  as  though  the  earth  were  too  vulgar 
for  their  touch,  or  flashing  past  at  a  gallop,  all  groomed  to 
perfection  and  superbly  caparisoned,  ridden  by  men  who 
know  how  to  ride,  and  who  are  in  sympathy  with  their 
animals,  is  one  of  the  fascinations  of  Tihran. 

Creeping  along  by  the  side -walk  is  often  seen  a 
handsome  pacing  saddle-mule,  or  large  white  ass,  nearly 
always  led,  carrying  a  Persian  lady  attended  by  servants — 
a  shapeless  black  bundle,  with  what  one  supposes  to  be 
the  outline  of  a  hand  clutching  the  enshrouding  black 
silk  sheet  tightly  over  her  latticed  white  mask :  so 
completely  enveloped  that  only  a  yellow  shoe  without  a 
heel,  and  a  glimpse  of  a  violet  trouser  can  be  seen  above 
the  short  stirrups. 

Another  piece  of  Orientalism  unaffected  by  Western 
influence  is  the  music  performed  daily  at  sunset  in  the 
upper  stories  of  some  of  the  highly-decorated  tiled  gateways 
which  lead  into  and  out  of  the  principal  squares. 
This  is  evoked  from  drums,  fifes,  cymbals,  and  huge 
horns,  and  as  the  latter  overpower  all  the  former,  the 
effect  is  much  like  that  of  the  braying  of  the  colossal 
silver  horns  from  the  roofs  of  the  Tibetan  lamaserais. 
Many  people  suppose  that  this  daily  homage  to  the 
setting  sun  is  a  relic  of  the  ancient  fire  or  sun  worship. 


192  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  NOTES 

Two  great  squares,  one  of  them  with  a  tank  in  the 
middle  with  a  big  gun  at  each  corner,  artillery  barracks 
on  three  sides,  and  a  number  of  smooth-bore  twenty-four- 
pounder  guns  on  the  fourth,  are  among  the  features  of 
Tihran.  In  this  great  Maidan  there  are  always  soldiers 
in  multifarious  uniforms  lounging,  people  waiting  for  the 
tram-cars,  and  Eoyal  footmen,  whose  grotesque  costumes 
border  on  the  ridiculous.  They  are  indeed  a  fitting 
accompaniment  to  the  Eoyal  horses  with  their  magenta  tails 
and  spots,  for  they  wear  red  coats  with  ballet-dancer 
skirts  and  green  facings,  green  knee-breeches,  white 
stockings,  and  tall  stiff  erections  resembling  a  fool's  cap 
on  the  head,  topped  by  crests  suggestive  of  nothing  but 
a  cock's  comb. 

A  gateway  much  ornamented  leads  from  the  artillery 
square,  or  Maidan  TopTchaneh,  by  a  short  road  shaded 
with  trees  to  the  Citadel  or  Ark,  which  is  an  immense 
enclosure,  rather  mangy  and  unprepossessing  in  its 
exterior,  which  contains  the  palace  of  the  Shah,  the 
arsenal,  certain  public  offices,  the  royal  colleges,  etc. 
Over  the  gateway  floats  rather  grandly  the  Eoyal 
standard,  bearing  the  Lion  and  the  Sun  in  yellow  on  a 
green  ground. 

The  Shah's  palace  is  very  magnificent,  and  the  shady 
gardens,  beautifully  kept,  with  their  fountains  and  tanks 
of  pale  blue  tiles,  through  which  clear  water  constantly 
moves,  are  worthy  of  a  Eoyal  residence.  From  the  out- 
side above  the  high  wall  the  chief  feature  is  a  very 
lofty  pavilion,  brilliantly  and  elaborately  painted,  with 
walls  inclining  inwards,  and  culminating  in  two  high 
towers.  This  striking  structure  contains  the  andarun  or 
haram  of  the  sovereign  and  his  private  apartments. 

This  hasty  sketch  exhausts  those  features  of  Tihran 
which  naturally  arrest  the  stranger's  attention.  There  is 
no  splendour  about  it  externally,  but  there  is  splendour 


TIHRAN         THE  SITUATION  OF  THE  CAPITAL  193 

within  it,  and  possibly  few  European  residences  can 
exceed  in  taste  and  magnificence  the  palaces  of  the 
Minister  of  Justice  (the  Muscliir-u-Dowleli),  the  Naib-es- 
Sultan,  the  Zil-es-  Sultan,  and  a  few  others,  though  I 
regret  that  much  of  the  furniture  has  been  imported 
from  Europe,  as  it  vexes  the  eye  more  or  less  with 
its  incongruity  of  form  and  colouring.  The  current  of 
European  influence,  which  is  affecting  externals  in  Tihran, 
is  not  likely  now  to  be  stemmed.  Eastern  civilisation  is 
doomed,  and  the  transition  period  is  not  beautiful,  what- 
ever the  outcome  may  be. 

So  much  for  what  is  within  the  walls.  That  which 
is  outside  deserves  a  passing  notice  as  the  environment  of 
the  capital.  The  sole  grandeur  of  the  situation  lies  in 
the  near  neighbourhood  of  the  Shimran  mountains — a 
huge  wall,  white  or  brown  according  to  the  season,  with 
some  irrigated  planting  near  its  base,  which  is  spotted 
with  villages  and  the  yailaks  not  only  of  the  numerous 
Legations  but  of  rich  Europeans  and  Persians.  Other- 
wise the  tameless  barbarism  of  a  desert,  which  man  has 
slashed,  tunnelled,  delved,  and  heaped,  lies  outside  the 
city  walls,  deformed  by  the  long  lines  of  kanaats — some 
choked,  others  still  serviceable — by  which  the  city  is 
supplied  with  water  from  the  mountains,  their  shafts 
illustrating  the  Scriptural  expression  "ruinous  heaps." 
In  the  glare  of  the  summer  sun,  with  the  mercury 
ranging  from  95°  to  110°  in  the  shade,  and  with  the 
heated  atmosphere  quivering  over  the  burning  earth, 
these  wastes  are  abandoned  to  carcasses  and  the  vultures 
which  fatten  on  them,  and  travelling  is  done  at  night, 
when  a  breeze  from  the  Shimran  range  sends  the 
thermometer  down  from  10°  to  15°. 

Curving  to  the  south-west  of  Tihran,  the  mountains 
end  in  a  bare  ridge,  around  the  base  of  which,  according 
to  many  archaeologists,  lie  vestiges  of  the  ancient  city  of 
VOL.  i  0 


194  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  NOTES 

Rhages,  known  in  later  days  as  Ehei.  A  tomb  of 
brick  with  angular  surfaces,  sacred  to  the  memory 
of  an  ancient  and  romantic  attachment,  remains  of  forti- 
fications, and  the  Parsee  cemetery  on  a  ledge  overlook- 
ing these  remains,  break  the  monotony  of  the  waste  in 
that  direction. 

This  cemetery,  or  "  Tower  of  Silence,"  a  white  splash 
on  the  brown  hillside,  is  visible  from  afar.  The 
truncated  cones  which  in  many  places  mark  seats  of  the 
ancient  Zoroastrian  worship  have  been  mentioned  here 
and  there,  but  it  is  only  in  Tihran  and  Yezd  that  the 
descendants  of  the  ancient  fire-worshippers  are  found  in 
such  numbers  as  to  be  able  to  give  prominence  to  their 
ancient  rites  of  sepulture.  Probably  throughout  Persia 
their  number  does  not  exceed  8000.  Their  head  resides 
in  Tihran.  They  bear  a  good  character  for  uprightness, 
and  except  in  Yezd,  where  they  weave  rich  stuffs,  they 
are  chiefly  agriculturists.  They  worship  firelight  and  the 
sun  on  the  principles  symbolised  by  both,  they  never  use 
tobacco,  and  it  is  impolite  to  smoke  in  their  presence 
because  of  the  sacredness  of  fire. 

Their  belief  has  been,  and  is,  that  to  bury  the  dead  in 
the  earth  is  to  pollute  it ;  and  one  among  the  reasons  of 
the  persecution  of  the  early  Christians  by  the  Zoroastrians 
was  their  abhorrence  of  the  desecration  of  the  ground 
produced  by  the  modes  of  Christian  burial. 

This  "  Tower  of  Silence  "  near  Tihran  is  a  large  round 
edifice  of  whitewashed  mud  and  stone.  On  the  top  of  it, 
a  few  feet  below  the  circular  parapet,  the  dead  are  laid 
to  be  devoured  by  birds  and  consumed  by  exposure  to 
the  elements.  The  destiny  of  the  spirit  is  supposed  to 
be  indicated  by  the  eye  which  is  first  devoured  by  the 
fowls  of  the  air,  the  right  eye  signifying  bliss. 

In  a  northern  direction,  to  which  the  eye  always 
turns  to  be  refreshed  by  the  purity  of  the  icy  cone  of 


TIHRAN  THE  SLOPES  OF  SHIMRAN  195 

Demavend,  or  to  watch  the  rosy  light  deepening  into 
purple  on  the  heights  of  Shimran,  are  palaces  and  country 
seats  in  numbers,  with  a  mass  of  irrigated  plantations 
extending  for  twenty  miles,  from  Vanek  on  the  east  to 
Kainaranieh  on  the  west.  These  are  reached  by  passing 
through  the  Shimran  gate,  the  most  beautiful  of  the  outer 
gates,  tiled  all  over  with  yellow,  black,  blue,  and  green 
tiles  in  conventional  designs,  and  with  an  immense 
coloured  mosaic  over  the  gateway  representing  Eustem, 
Persia's  great  mythical  hero,  conquering  some  of  his 
enemies. 

On  the  slopes  of  the  hills  are  palaces  and  hunt- 
ing seats  of  the  Shah,  beginning  with  the  imposing 
mass  of  the  Kasr-i-Kajar,  on  a  low  height,  surrounded  by 
majestic  groves,  in  which  are  enormous  tanks.  Palaces 
and  hunting  seats  of  ministers  and  wealthy  men  succeed 
each  other  rapidly,  a  perfect  seclusion  having  been 
obtained  for  each  by  the  rapid  growth  of  poplars  and 
planes,  each  dwelling  carrying  out  in  its  very  marked 
individuality  a  deference  to  Persian  custom,  and  each  if 
possible  using  running  water  as  a  means  of  decoration. 
Many  of  these  palaces  are  princely,  and  realise  some  of 
the  descriptions  in  the  Arabian  Nights,  with  the  beauty 
of  their  decorated  architecture,  the  deep  shade  of  their 
large  demesnes,  the  cool  plash  of  falling  water,  the  songs 
of  nightingales,  and  the  scent  of  roses — sensuous  Paradises 

o  o  * 

in  which  the  Persian  finds  the  summer  all  too  short. 

Beyond  this  enchanting  region,  and  much  higher  up 
on  the  mountain  slopes,  are  the  hunting  grounds  of  the 
Shah  and  his  sons,  well  stocked  with  game  and  rigidly 
preserved ;  for  the  Shah  is  a  keen  sportsman,  and  is  said 
to  prefer  a  free  life  under  canvas  and  the  pleasures  of 
the  chase  to  the  splendid  conventionalities  of  the  Court 
of  Tihran. 

The  two  roads  and  the  many  tracks  which  centre  in  the 


196  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  NOTES 

capital  after  scoring  the  desert  for  many  miles  around  it, 
are  a  feature  of  the  landscape  not  to  be  overlooked,  the 
Meshed,  Kesht,  Bushire,  and  Tabriz  roads  being  the  most 
important,  except  the  route  from  Baghdad  by  Kirmanshah 
and  Hamadan,  which  in  summer  can  be  travelled  by 
caravans  in  twenty-eight  days,  and  by  which  many  bulky 
articles  of  value,  such  as  pianos,  carriages,  and  valuable 
furniture,  find  their  way  to  Tihran.1 

These  are  some  of  the  features  of  the  environments 
of  Tihran.  A  traveller  writing  ten  years  hence  may 
probably  have  to  tell  that  the  city  has  extended  to  its 
walls,  that  Western  influence  is  nearly  dominant  in 
externals,  and  possibly  that  the  concessionaires  who  for 
years  have  been  hanging  about  the  Palace  in  alternations 
of  hope  and  despondency  have  made  something  of  their 
concessions,  and  that  goods  reach  the  capital  in  another 
way  than  on  the  backs  of  animals. 

1  There  are  only  two  roads,  properly  so  called,  in  Persia,  though  in  the 
summer  wheeled  carriages  with  some  assistance  can  get  from  place  to  place 
over  several  of  the  tracks.  These  two  are  the  road  from  Kvim  to  the 
capital,  formerly  described,  and  one  from  Kasvin  to  the  capital,  both  under 
100  miles  in  length.  Goods  are  everywhere  carried  on  the  backs  of  animals. 
The  distance  between  Bushire  and  Tihran  is  698  miles. 

The  summer  freight  per  ton  is £14     1     8 

The  winter  do.  20     2     0 

The  distance  between  Tihran  and  Resht  on  the  Caspian  is  211  miles. 

The  summer  freight  per  ton  is £4     0     5£ 

The  winter  do.  8     0  ll| 

From  the  Caspian  to  the  Persian  Gulf  the  summer 

freight  per  ton  is  £18     2     3 

The  winter  do.  28     3     4 

inclusive  of  some  insignificant  charges. 

The  time  taken  for  the  transit  of  goods  between  Bushire  and  Tihran  is 
forty-two  days,  and  between  Resht  and  Tihran  twelve  days. 

The  cost  per  ton  by  rail,  if  taken  at  Indian  rates,  between  the  Gulf  and 
the  Caspian,  would  be  £3  : 11  : 10. 

On  these  figures  the  promoters  of  railway  enterprise  in  Persia  build 
their  hopes. 


LETTER  ix  EUROPEAN  RESIDENTS  197 


LETTEE    IX 

BRITISH  LEGATION,  TIHRAN,  March  18. 

THREE  weeks  have  passed  quickly  by  since  that  terrible 
ride  from  Husseinabad.  The  snow  is  vanishing  from  the 
Shimran  hills,  the  spring  has  come,  and  I  am  about  to 
leave  the  unbounded  kindness  and  hospitality  of  this 
house  on  a  long  and  difficult  journey.  It  is  very 
pleasant  to  go  away  carrying  no  memories  but  those 
of  kindness,  received  not  only  from  Europeans  and 
Americans,  but  from  Persians,  including  the  Amin-es- 
Sultan  and  the  Muschir-u-Dowleh. 

It  is  impossible  to  bear  away  other  than  pleasant 
impressions  of  Tihran  society.  Kindness  received  per- 
sonally always  sways  one's  impressions  of  the  people 
among  whom  one  is  thrown,  and  even  if  I  had  any  un- 
favourable criticisms  to  make  I  should  not  make  them. 

Society,  or  rather  I  should  say  the  European  popula- 
tion, is  divided  into  classes  and  knots.  There  are  the 
eleven  American  missionaries,  whose  duties  and  interests 
lie  apart  from  those  of  the  rest  of  the  community,  the 
diplomatic  body,  which  has  a  monopoly  of  political 
interests,  the  large  staff  of  the  Indo-European  telegraph, 
married  and  single,  with  Colonel  Wells  at  its  head,  and 
the  mercantile  class,  in  which  the  manager  and  employes 
of  the  Imperial  Bank  may  be  included.  Outside  of  these 
recognised  classes  there  is  a  shifting  body  of  passing 
travellers,  civil  and  military,  and  would-be  concessionaires 


198  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  ix 

and  adventurers,  besides  a  few  Europeans  in  Persian 
employment. 

From  four  to  five  hundred  Europeans  is  a  large  foreign 
settlement,  and  it  is  a  motley  one,  very  various  in  its 
elements,  "and  in  their  idiosyncrasies,  combinations, 
rivalries,  and  projects  is  to  be  found  an  inexhaustible 
fund  of  local  gossip,"  writes  Mr.  Curzon  in  one  of  his 
recent  brilliant  letters  to  the  Times,  "as  well  as  almost 
the  sole  source  of  non-political  interest." 

Outside  of  the  diplomatic  circle  the  relations  of 
England  and  Eussia  with  each  other  and  with  the  Shah 
afford  a  topic  of  ceaseless  interest.  England  is  just  now 
considered  to  be  in  the  ascendant,  so  far  as  her  diplomacy 
is  concerned,  but  few  people  doubt  that  Russian  policy 
will  eventually  triumph,  and  that  North  Persia  at  least 
will  be  "  absorbed." 

One  or  two  specially  pleasant  things  I  must  mention. 
Sir  H.  Drummond  Wolff  kindly  wrote  asking  permission 
from  the  Shah  for  me  to  see  his  Museum,  i.e.  his  treasure- 
house,  and  we,  that  is  the  Minister,  the  whole  party  from 
the  Legation,  and  Dr.  Odling  of  the  telegraph  staff  and 
Mrs.  Odling,  went  there  yesterday.  There  was  a  great 
crowd  outside  the  Palace  gates,  where  we  were  received 
by  many  men  in  scarlet.  The  private  gardens  are 
immense,  and  beautifully  laid  out,  in  a  more  formal  style 
than  I  have  hitherto  seen,  with  straight,  hard  gravel  walks, 
and  straight  avenues  of  trees.  The  effect  of  the  clear 
running  water  in  the  immense  tanks  lined  with  blue  tiles 
is  most  agreeable  and  cool.  Continuous  rows  of  orange 
trees  in  tubs,  and  beds  of  narcissus,  irises,  and  tulips,  with 
a  wealth  of  trellised  roses  just  coming  into  leaf,  are  full  of 
the  promise  of  beauty.  These  great  pleasure  gardens 
are  admirably  kept.  I  doubt  whether  a  fallen  leaf 
would  not  be  discovered  and  removed  in  five  minutes. 

The  great  irregular  mass  of  the  Palace  buildings  on 


LETTER  ix       THE  SHAH'S  TREASURE-HOUSE  199 

the  garden  front  is  very  fine,  the  mangy  and  forlorn 
aspect  being  confined  to  the  side  seen  by  the  public.  The 
walls  are  much  decorated,  chiefly  with  glazed  and  coloured 
tiles  geometrically  arranged,  and  the  general  effect  is 
striking. 

The  "  Museum,"  properly  the  audience  chamber,  and 
certainly  one  among  the  finest  halls  in  the  world, 
is  approached  by  a  broad  staircase  of  cream-coloured 
alabaster.  We  were  received  by  the  Grand  Vizier's  two 
brothers,  and  were  afterwards  joined  by  himself  and 
another  high  official. 

The  decorations  of  this  magnificent  hall  are  in  blue 
and  white  stucco  of  the  hard  fine  kind,  hardly  distinguish- 
able from  marble,  known  as  gatch,  and  much  glass  is 
introduced  in  the  ceiling.  The  proportions  of  the  room 
are  perfect.  The  floor  is  of  fine  tiles  of  exquisite 
colouring  arranged  as  mosaic.  A  table  is  overlaid 
with  beaten  gold,  and  chairs  in  rows  are  treated  in 
the  same  fashion.  Glass  cases  round  the  room  and 
on  costly  tables  contain  the  fabulous  treasures  of  the 
Shah  and  many  of  the  Crown  jewels.  Possibly  the 
accumulated  splendours  of  pearls,  diamonds,  rubies, 
emeralds,  sapphires,  basins  and  vessels  of  solid  gold, 
ancient  armour  flashing  with  precious  stones,  shields 
studded  with  diamonds  and  rubies,  scabbards  and  sword 
hilts  incrusted  with  costly  gems,  helmets  red  with  rubies, 
golden  trays  and  vessels  thick  with  diamonds,  crowns 
of  jewels,  chains,  ornaments  (masculine  solely)  of  every 
description,  jewelled  coats  of  mail  dating  back  to  the 
reign  of  Shah  Ismae'l,  exquisite  enamels  of  great  anti- 
quity, all  in  a  profusion  not  to  be  described,  have  no 
counterpart  on  earth.  They  are  a  dream  of  splendour 
not  to  be  forgotten. 

One  large  case  contains  the  different  orders  bestowed 
on  the  Shah,  all  blazing  with  diamonds,  a  splendid  dis- 


200  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  ix 

play,  owing  to  the  European  cutting  of  the  stones,  which 
brings  out  their  full  beauty.  There  are  many  glass  cases 
from  two  to  three  feet  high  and  twelve  inches  or  more 
broad,  nearly  full  of  pearls,  rubies,  diamonds,  sapphires, 
emeralds,  flashing  forth  their  many-coloured  light — treas- 
ures not  arranged,  but  piled  like  tea  or  rice.  Among  the 
extraordinarily  lavish  uses  of  gold  and  gems  is  a  golden 
globe  twenty  inches  in  diameter,  turning  on  a  frame  of  solid 
gold.  The  stand  and  meridian  are  of  solid  gold  set  with 
rubies.  The  equator  and  elliptic  are  of  large  diamonds. 
The  countries  are  chiefly  outlined  in  rubies,  but  Persia 
is  in  diamonds.  The  ocean  is  represented  by  emeralds. 
As  if  all  this  were  not  enough,  huge  gold  coins,  each 
worth  thirty-three  sovereigns,  are  heaped  round  its  base. 

At  the  upper  end  of  the  hall  is  the  Persian  throne. 
Many  pages  would  be  needed  for  a  mere  catalogue  of 
some  of  the  innumerable  treasures  which  give  gorgeous - 
ness  to  this  hall.  Here  indeed  is  "  Oriental  splendour," 
but  only  a  part  of  the  possessions  of  the  Shah ;  for  many 
gems,  including  the  Dar-i-nur  or  Sea  of  Light,  the  second 
most  famous  diamond  in  the  world,  are  kept  elsewhere  in 
double-locked  iron  chests,  and  hoards  of  bullion  saved 
from  the  revenues  are  locked  up  in  vaults  below  the 
Palace. 

If  such  a  blaze  of  splendour  exists  in  this  shrunken, 
shrivelled,  "depopulated" 'empire,  what  must  have  been 
the  magnificence  of  the  courts  of  Darius  and  Xerxes,  into 
which  were  brought  the  treasures  of  almost  "  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of  them  "  ?  Since 
seeing  this  treasure-house  I  think  that  many  of  the  early 
descriptions  of  wealth,  which  I  have  regarded  as  Oriental 
hyperbole,  were  literal,  and  that  there  was  a  time  in 
Persia,  as  in  Judea,  when  "  silver  was  not  accounted  of." 
And  to  come  down  from  the  far  off-glories  of  Darius, 
Xerxes,  and  Khosroe  and  the  Parthian  kings,  there  have 


LETTER  ix  THE  "  ASYLUM  OF  THE  UNIVERSE  "  201 

been  within  almost  modern  times  Persian  sovereigns  cele- 
brated among  other  things  for  their  successful  "  looting  " 
of  foreign  kingdoms — Shah  Abbas  the  great,  and  Nadir 
Shah,  who  scarcely  two  hundred  years  ago  returned  from 
the  sack  of  Delhi  with  gems  valued  at  twenty  millions  of 
our  money. 

After  we  had  seen  most  of  what  was  to  be  seen 
the  Vizier  left  us,  and  we  went  to  the  room  in  which 
stands  the  celebrated  Peacock  Throne,  brought  by  Nadir 
Shah  from  Delhi,  and  which  has  been  valued  at 
£2,500,000.  This  throne  is  a  large  stage,  with  parapets 
and  a  high  fan  back,  and  is  reached  by  several  steps. 
It  is  entirely  of  gold  enamel,  and  the  back  is  incrusted 
with  rubies  and  diamonds.  Its  priceless  carpet  has  a 
broad  border,  the  white  arabesque  pattern  of  which  is 
formed  of  pearls  closely  stitched.  You  will  think  that  I 
am  lapsing  into  Oriental  exaggeration! 

While  we  were  admiring  the  beautiful  view  of  the 
gardens  from  the  windows  of  this  room,  Hassan  Ali  Khan, 
better  known  as  "  the  Nawab,"  suggested  that  we  should 
retire,  as  the  Shah  is  in  the  habit  of  visiting  and  enjoying 
his  treasures  at  a  later  hour.  However,  at  the  foot  of 
the  stairs  on  the  threshold  of  the  vestibule  stood  the 
Shah,  the  "  King  of  Kings,"  the  "Asylum  of  the  Universe," 
and  that  his  presence  there  was  not  an  accident  was 
shown  by  the  fact  that  the  Grand  Vizier  was  with  him. 

Sir  Henry  advanced,  attended  by  "  the  Nawab,"  and 
presented  me,  lifting  his  hat  to  the  king,  who  neither 
then  nor  when  he  left  us  made  the  slightest  inclination 
of  his  head.  Hassan  Ali  Khan,  in  answer  to  a  question, 
mentioned  some  of  my  travels,  and  said  that  with  His 
Majesty's  permission  I  wished  to  visit  the  Bakhtiari 
country.1  The  king  pushed  up  his  big  horn  spectacles 

1  Some  of  the  Bakhtiari  khans  or  princes,  with  their  families,  are  kept 
by  the  Shah  as  hostages  in  and  round  Tihran  for  the  loyalty  of  their 


202  JOURNEYS  IN  PEESIA  LETTER  ix 

and  focused  his  eyes,  about  which  there  is  something 
very  peculiar,  upon  me,  with  a  stare  which  would  have 
been  disconcerting  to  a  younger  person,  asked  if  I  were 
going  to  travel  alone  in  his  dominions,  and  if  fitting 
arrangements  had  been  made ;  if  I  had  been  in  Pekin, 
and  had  visited  Borneo  and  the  Celebes ;  said  a  few 
other  things,  and  then  without  a  bow  turned  round 
abruptly  and  walked  down  the  garden  with  the  Amin- 
es-Sultan. 

This  accidental  and  informal  presentation  was  a  very 
pleasant  incident.  The  Shah  is  not  what  I  expected 
from  his  various  portraits.  His  manner  (though  he  was 
said  to  be  very  affable  on  this  occasion)  has  neither 
Eastern  nor  Western  polish.  He  is  a  somewhat  rough- 
looking  man,  well  on  in  middle  life,  rather  dark  in 
complexion,  and  wearing  a  thick  dark  moustache,  probably 
dyed,  as  is  the  custom.  The  long  twisted  moustache 
conceals  the  expression  of  his  mouth,  and  the  spectacles 
with  thick  horn  rims  that  of  his  eyes.  He  was  very 
simply  dressed.  The  diamond  aigrette  and  sword  with 
jewelled  hilt  with  which  pictures  and  descriptions  have 
familiarised  us  were  absent,  and  this  splendid  monarch, 
the  heir  of  splendour,  and  the  possessor  of  fabulous 
treasures,  wore  the  ordinary  Persian  high  cap  of  Astrakan 
lambskin  without  any  ornament,  close-fitting  dark 
trousers  with  a  line  of  gold  braid,  a  full -skirted  coat  of 
dull-coloured  Kerman  silk  brocade,  loose  and  open,  under 
which  were  huddled  one  or  more  coats.  A  watch-chain 
composed  of  large  diamonds  completed  his  costume.  He 
did  not  wear  gloves,  and  I  noticed  that  his  hands,  though 
carefully  attended  to,  were  those  of  a  man  used  to  muscular 
exercise,  strong  and  wiry. 

As  the  sovereign  and  his  prime  minister  walked  away, 

tribes,  the  conquest  of  these  powerful  nomads  not  being  so  complete  as 
it  might  and  possibly  will  be. 


LETTER  ix  THE  AMIN-ES- SULTAN  203 

it  was  impossible  not  to  speculate  upon  coming  events:  what 
will  happen,  for  instance,  when  Nasr-ed-Din,  possibly  the 
ablest  man  in  the  country  which  he  rules,  and  probably 
the  best  and  most  patriotic  ruler  among  Oriental  despots, 
goes  "  the  way  of  all  the  earth"?  and  again,  whether  Ali 
Askar  Khan,  who  has  held  his  post  for  five  years,  and 
who  at  thirty-two  is  the  foremost  man  in  Persia  after 
the  king,  will  weather  the  storm  of  intrigue  which  rages 
round  his  head,  and  resist  the  undermining  influence  of 
Eussia  ? 

I  have  had  two  interesting  conversations  with  him, 
and  he  was  good  enough  to  propose  success  to  my  jour- 
ney at  a  dinner  at  the  Legation ;  and  though,  as  he  does 
not  speak  French,  the  services  of  an  interpreter  were 
necessary,  he  impressed  me  very  favourably  as  a  man 
of  thought,  intelligence,  and  patriotism. 

He  made  one  remark  which  had  a  certain  degree  of 
pathos  in  it.  After  speaking  of  the  severe  strictures  and 
harsh  criticisms  of  certain  recent  writers,  which  he  said 
were  very  painful  to  Persians,  he  added,  "  I  hope  if  you 
write  you  will  write  kindly,  and  not  crush  the  aspirations 
of  my  struggling  country  as  some  have  done." 

This  Amin-es-Sultan,  the  faithful  or  trusted  one  of  the 
sovereign,  the  Grand  Vizier  or  Prime  Minister,  the  second 
person  in  the  empire,  who  unites  in  his  person  at  this 
time  the  ministries  of  the  Treasury,  the  Interior,  the 
Court,  and  Customs,  is  of  humble  antecedents,  being  the 
son  of  a  man  who  was  originally  an  inferior  attendant  on 
the  Shah  in  his  hunting  expeditions,  and  is  the  grandson 
of  an  Armenian  captive.  Certain  persons  of  importance 
are  bent  upon  his  overthrow,  and  it  can  only  be  by  the 
continued  favour  and  confidence  of  the  Shah  that  he  can 
sustain  himself  against  their  intrigues,  combined  with 
those  of  Eussia. 

My  visit  to  the  Palace  terminated  with  the  sight  of 


204  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  ix 

another  throne-room  opening  upon  the  garden  in  which  a 
few  days  hence,  with  surroundings  of  great  magnificence, 
the  Shah  will  receive  the  congratulations  of  the  diplomatic 
corps,  and  afterwards  give  a  general  audience  to  the 
people. 

This  is  an  annual  ceremony  at  the  festival  of  No  Euz 
when  the  Persian  New  Year  begins,  at  the  time  of  the 
spring  solstice,  and  is  probably  a  relic  of  the  Zoroastrian 
worship,  though  the  modern  Persians,  as  Mohammedans, 
allege  that  it  is  observed  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  the 
Prophet's  mother.1 

Some  hours  after  the  close  of  a  splendid  ceremony  in 
the  audience  chamber,  chiefly  religious,  at  which  the  Shah 
burns  incense  on  a  small  brazier,  he  descends  to  the 
garden,  and  walking  alone  along  an  avenue  of  Koyal 
Guards,  with  the  crown  of  the  Kajars,  blazing  with 
jewels,  carried  in  front  of  him,  he  seats  himself  on  an 
alabaster  throne,  the  foreign  ministers  having  been  re- 
ceived previously.  This  throne  is  a  large  platform,  with 
a  very  high  back  and  parapets  of  bold  stone  fretwork, 
supported  on  marble  lions  and  other  figures,  and  is 
ascended  by  three  or  four  steps. 

The  populace,  which  to  the  number  of  many  thousands 
are  admitted  into  the  garden,  see  him  seated  on  his  throne, 
their  absolute  master,  the  lord  of  life  and  death.  A  voice 
asks  if  they  are  content,  and  they  say  they  are.  A  hymn 

1  On  the  eve  of  the  day,  the  last  of  a  festival  of  ten  days,  the  common 
people  kindle  rows  of  bonfires  and  leap  over  them ;  and,  though  not  on 
the  same  day,  but  on  the  night  of  the  25th  of  February,  sacred  in  the 
Armenian  Church  as  the  day  of  the  presentation  of  our  Lord  in  the  temple, 
large  bonfires  are  lighted  on  the  mud  roofs  of  the  Armenians  of  the 
Persian  and  Turkish  cities,  and  the  younger  members  of  the  households 
dance  and  sing  and  leap  through  the  flames.  Meanwhile  the  Moslems 
close  their  windows,  so  that  the  sins  which  the  Christians  are  supposed  to 
be  burning  may  not  enter.  Whether  these  "  Beltane  fires"  are  a  relic  of 
the  ancient  fire  worship  or  of  still  older  rites  may  be  a  question.  Among 
the  Christians  the  custom  is  showing  signs  of  passing  away. 


LETTER  ix  YAHIA  KHAN  205 

of  congratulation  is  sung,  a  chief  of  the  Kajar  tribe  offers 
the  congratulations  of  the  people  of  Persia,  the  Hakim  of 
the  people  hands  the  king  a  jewelled  kalian,  which  he 
smokes,  and  showers  of  gold  fall  among  the  populace. 

The  British  Minister  is  understood  to  be  at  this  time 
the  most  powerful  foreigner  in  Persia ;  and  as  we  drove 
through  the  crowd  which  had  assembled  at  the  Palace 
gates,  he  was  received  with  all  Oriental  marks  of  respect. 

All  my  intercourse  with  Persians  here  has  been 
pleasant,  and  if  I  mention  one  person  particularly,  it  is 
owing  to  a  certain  interest  which  attaches  to  himself  and 
his  possible,  future,  and  because  some  hours  spent  at 
his  splendid  palace  were  among  the  pleasantest  of  the 
many  pleasant  and  interesting  ones  which  I  shall  here- 
after recall. 

Yahia  Khan,  Minister  of  Justice  and  Commerce, 
whose  official  title  is  Muschir-u-Dowleh,  was  formerly 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  but  forfeited  the  confidence 
of  the  British  Government  in  supposed  connection  with  the 
escape  of  Ayoub  Khan,  and  being  suspected  of  Russian 
proclivities,  which  he  denies,  lost  his  position.  He  speaks 
French  perfectly,  is  credited  with  very  great  abilities, 
and  not  only  has  courteous  and  charming  manners,  but 
thoroughly  understands  the  customs  of  Europe. 

As  the  possessor  of  one  of  the  most  magnificent 
palaces  in  Persia,  married  to  the  Shah's  sister,  his  son,  a 
youth  of  eighteen,  married  to  a  daughter  of  the  Vali-'ahd, 
the  heir-apparent,  and  as  the  brother  of  Mirza  Hussein 
Khan — for  long  Grand  Vizier  and  Sipah  Salar,  or  Com- 
mander-in-Chief,  whose  gorgeous  mosque,  scarcely  finished, 
the  finest  mosque  built  in  late  years  by  any  but  a  royal 
personage,  adjoins  his  house,  Yahia  Khan  is  in  every  way 
an  important  personage. 

He  is  the  fourth  husband  of  the  Shah's  sister,  who 
has  had  a  tragic  life  and  is  a  very  accomplished  woman. 


206  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  ix 

Her  first  husband,  Mirza  Taghi,  when  Prime  Minister, 
attempted  reforms  which  would  have  tended  to  diminish 
the  hideous  corruption  which  is  the  bane  of  Persian 
officialism,  and  consequently  made  many  enemies,  who 
induced  the  Shah,  then  a  young  man,  to  depose  him. 
Worse  than  deposition  was  apprehended,  and  as  it  was 
not  etiquette  to  murder  a  husband  of  a  royal  princess 
in  her  presence,  his  wife,  who  loved  him,  watched  him 
night  and  day  with  ceaseless  vigilance  for  some  weeks. 
But  the  fatal  day  at  last  came,  and  a  good  and  powerful 
man,  whose  loss  is  said  to  have  been  an  irreparable  one 
to  Persia,  was  strangled  by  the  Shah's  messengers,  it  is 
said,  in  the  bath. 

Her  son,  who  has  married  the  Shah's  grand-daughter, 
is  courteous  like  his  father,  but  is  apparently  without  his 
force. 

The  Muschir-u-Dowleh  invited  me  to  breakfast,  along 
with  General  Gordon  and  Hassan  Ali  Khan.  The 
dejetiner  was  altogether  in  European  style,  except  that 
in  the  centre  of  the  table,  among  lilies  and  irises,  a  con- 
cealed fountain  sent  up  jets  of  rose-water  spray.  Sevres 
and  Dresden  porcelain,  the  finest  damask,  and  antique 
and  exquisitely  beautiful  silver  adorned  the  table.  The 
cooking  was  French.  The  wines  and  liqueurs,  an 
innovation  on  Moslem  tables  now  common,  but  of  recent 
date,  were  both  French  and  Persian.  The  service  was 
perfection.  The  host  conversed  both  thoughtfully  and 
agreeably,  and  expressed  himself  remarkably  well  in 
French. 

Afterwards  we  were  invited  to  go  over  the  palace  and 
its  grounds,  which  are  remarkably  beautiful,  and  then 
over  the  magnificent  mosque.  Shiah  mosques  are 
absolutely  tabooed  to  Christians ;  but  as  this  has  not 
yet  been  used  for  worship,  our  entrance  was  not 
supposed  to  desecrate  it.  When  quite  finished  it  will 


LETTER  ix  A  PERSIAN  PALACE  207 

be  one  of  the  most  magnificent  buildings  dedicated  to 
religious  use  in  the  world,  and  its  four  tile- covered 
minarets,  its  vast  dome,  and  arches  and  facades  in  tiled 
arabesques  and  conventional  patterns  and  exquisite 
colouring,  show  that  the  Persian  artist  when  adequately 
encouraged  has  not  lost  his  old  feeling  for  beauty. 

Besides  the  mosque  there  is  a  fine  building,  the  low 
roof  of  which  is  supported  by  innumerable  columns,  all 
of  plain  brick,  resembling  a  crypt,  which  will  be  used 
for  winter  worship.  In  addition,  a  lavish  endowment 
has  provided  on  the  grounds  a  theological  college  and 
a  hospital,  with  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  funds  needed  for 
their  maintenance ;  and  on  every  part  of  the  vast  pile 
of  buildings  the  architect  has  lavished  all  the  resources 
of  his  art. 

No  houses  are  to  my  thinking  more  beautiful  and 
appropriate  to  the  climate  and  mode  of  living  than  those 
of  the  upper  classes  of  Persians,  and  the  same  suitability 
and  good  taste  run  down  through  the  trading  classes 
till  one  reaches  the  mud  hovel,  coarse  and  un-ideal,  of 
the  workman  and  peasant. 

My  memory  does  not  serve  me  for  the  details  of  the 
Muschir-u-Dowleh's  palace,  which,  though  some  of  the 
rooms  are  furnished  with  European  lounges,  tables,  and 
chairs  in  marqueterie  and  brocade,  is  throughout  dis- 
tinctively Persian ;  but  the  impression  produced  by  the 
general  coup  d'ceil,  and  by  the  size,  height,  and  perfect 
proportion  of  the  rooms,  galleries,  staircases,  and  halls, 
is  quite  vivid.  The  rooms  have  dados  of  primrose- 
coloured  Yezd  alabaster  in  slabs  four  feet  high  by  three 
broad,  clouded  and  veined  most  delicately  by  nature. 
The  banqueting  hall  is  of  immense  size,  and  the  floor 
is  covered  with  a  dark  fawn  namad  three-quarters  of 
an  inch  thick,  made,  I  understood,  in  one  piece  eighty 
feet  long  by  fifty  broad.  The  carpets  are  the  most 


208  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  ix 

beautiful  which  can  be  turned  out  by  Persian  looms,  and 
that  is  saying  a  great  deal. 

The  roofs,  friezes,  and  even  the  walls  of  this  house, 
like  those  of  others  of  its  class,  have  a  peculiarity  of 
beauty  essentially  Persian.  This  is  the  form  of  gatch 
or  fine  stucco-work  known  as  ainah  karee.  I  saw  it 
first  at  Baghdad,  and  now  at  Tihran  wonder  that  such 
beautiful  and  costly  decoration  does  not  commend  itself 
to  some  of  our  millionaires.  Arches  filled  with  honey- 
comb decoration,  either  pure  white  or  tastefully  coloured 
and  gilded,  are  among  the  architectural  adornments  which 
the  Alhambra  borrowed  from  Persia.  My  impression  is 
that  this  exquisite  design  was  taken  from  snow  on  the 
hillsides,  which  is  often  fashioned  by  a  strong  wind  into 
the  honeycomb  pattern. 

But  the  glory  of  this  form  of  decoration  reaches  its 
height  when,  after  the  gatch  ceiling  and  cornice  or  deep 
frieze  have  been  daringly  moulded  by  the  workman  into 
distinct  surfaces  or  facets,  he  lays  on  mirrors  while  the 
plaster  is  yet  soft,  which  adhere,  and  even  at  their  edges 
have  scarcely  the  semblance  of  a  joining.  Sometimes, 
as  in  the  new  summer  palace  of  the  Shah's  third  son, 
the  Naib-es-Sultaneh,  the  whole  wall  is  decorated  in 
this  way ;  but  I  prefer  the  reception-rooms  of  Yahia 
Khan,  in  which  it  is  only  brought  down  a  few  feet. 
Immense  skill  and  labour  are  required  in  this  process 
of  adornment,  but  it  yields  in  splendour  to  none,  flashing 
in  bewildering  light,  and  realising  the  fabled  glories  of  the 
palaces  of  the  Arabian  Nights.  One  of  the  salons,  about 
sixty  feet  by  fifty,  treated  in  this  way  is  about  the 
most  beautiful  room  I  ever  saw. 

The  Persian  architect  also  shows  great  art  in  his  win- 
dows. He  masses  them  together,  and  by  this  means  gives 
something  of  grandeur  even  to  an  insignificant  room. 
The  beauty  of  the  designs,  whether  in  fretwork  of  wood 


LETTER  ix  THE  ANDARUN  209 

or  stone,  is  remarkable,  and  the  effect  is  enhanced  by  the 
filling  in  of  the  interstices  with  coloured  glass,  usually 
amber  and  pale  blue.  So  far  as  I  have  seen,  the  Persian 
house  is  never  over-decorated,  and  however  gorgeous  the 
mirror-work,  or  involved  the  arrangement  of  arches,  or 
daring  the  dreams  in  gcdck  ceilings  and  pillars,  the  fancy 
of  the  designer  is  always  so  far  under  control  as  to  give 
the  eye  periods  of  rest. 

Under  the  palace  of  the  Muschir-u-Dowleh,  as  under 
many  others,  is  a  sort  of  glorified  serdab,  used  in  hot 
weather,  partly  under  ground,  open  at  each  end,  and 
finished  throughout  with  marble,  the  roof  being  supported 
on  a  cluster  of  slender  pillars  with  capitals  picked  out  in 
gold,  and  the  air  being  cooled  by  a  fountain  in  a  large 
marble  basin.  But  this  serdab  is  far  eclipsed  by  a  summer 
hall  in  the  palace  of  the  Shah's  third  son,  which,  as  to 
walls  and  ceiling,  is  entirely  composed  of  mirror-work, 
the  floor  of  marble  being  arranged  with  marble  settees 
round  fountains  whose  cool  plash  even  now  is  delicious. 
The  large  pleasure  gardens  which  surround  rich  men's 
houses  in  the  city  are  laid  out  somewhat  in  the  old 
French  style  of  formality,  and  are  tended  with  scrupulous 
care. 

I  did  not  see  the  andarun  of  this  or  any  house  here, 
owing  to  the  difficulty  about  an  interpreter,  but  it  is  not 
likely  that  the  ladies  are  less  magnificently  lodged  than 
their  lords.  The  andarun  has  its  own  court,  no  one  is 
allowed  to  open  a  window  looking  upon  it,  it  is  as 
secluded  as  a  convent.  No  man  but  the  master  of  the 
house  may  enter,  and  when  he  retires  thither  no  man 
may  disturb  him.  To  all  inquirers  it  is  a  sufficient 
answer  to  say  that  he  is  in  the  andarun.  To  the  Shah, 
however,  belongs  the  privilege  of  looking  upon  the  un- 
veiled face  of  every  woman  in  Persia.  The  domestic  life 
of  a  Moslem  is  always  shrouded  in  mystery,  and  even  in 
VOL.  i  p 


210  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  ix 

the  case  of  the  Shah  "  the  fierce  light  that  beats  upon  a 
throne  "  fails  to  reveal  to  the  outer  world  the  number  of 
wives  and  women  in  his  andarun,  which  is  variously  stated 
at  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  and  ninety. 

It  is  not  easy  in  any  Eastern  city  to  get  exactly  what 
one  wants  for  a  journey,  especially  as  a  European  cannot 
buy  in  the  bazars ;  and  the  servant  difficulty  has  been  a 
great  hindrance,  particularly  as  I  have  a  strong  objection  to 
the  regular  interpreter-servant  who  has  been  accustomed 
to  travel  with  Europeans. 

I  have  now  got  a  Persian  cook  with  sleepy  eyes,  a 
portion  of  a  nose,  and  a  grotesquely  "  hang-dog  "  look. 
For  an  interpreter  and  personal  attendant  I  have  an 
educated  young  Brahmin,  for  some  years  in  British  post- 
office  service  in  the  Gulf,  and  lately  a  teacher  in  the 
American  school  here.  He  speaks  educated  English,  and 
is  said  to  speak  good  Persian.  He  has  never  done  any 
"  menial "  work,  but  is  willing  to  do  anything  in  order  to 
get  to  England.  He  has  a  frank,  independent  manner  and 
"no  nonsense  about  him."  Taking  him  is  an  experiment.1 

I.  L.  B. 

1  An  experiment  I  never  regretted.  Mirza  Yusuf  was  with  me  for  nine 
months,  and  I  found  him  faithful,  truthful,  and  trustworthy,  very  hard- 
working, minimising  hardships  and  difficulties,  always  cheerful,  and  with 
an  unruffled  temper,  his  failings  being  those  of  a  desk-bred  man  trans- 
planted into  a  life  of  rough  out-doorishness. 


LETTER  x  DEPARTURE  FROM  TIHRAN  211 


LETTER  X 

KfiM,  March  S3. 

THIS  so  far  is  a  delightful  journey.  All  the  circumstances 
are  favourable.  A  friend  who  was  sending  his  servants, 
horses,  and  baggage  to  Isfahan  has  lent  me  a  thorough- 
bred, and  with  a  trustworthy  young  soldier  as  my  escort 
I  do  not  trouble  myself  about  the  caravan  at  all,  and  get 
over  much  of  the  ground  at  a  gallop.  The  roads  have 
nearly  dried  up,  the  country  looks  cheerful,  travellers  are 
numerous,  living  and  dead,  the  sun  is  bright  but  the  air 
is  cool  and  bracing,  and  the  insects  are  still  hybernating, 
Mirza  Yusuf  is  getting  into  my  "ways,"  and  is  very 
pleasant.  I  did  not  think  that  I  could  have  liked 
Persian  travelling  so  well.  A  good  horse  and  a  good 
pace  make  an  immense  difference.  It  is  not  the  custom 
for  European  ladies  to  travel  unattended  by  European 
gentlemen  in  Persia,  but  no  objection  to  my  doing  so 
was  made  in  the  highest  quarters,  either  English  or 
Persian,  and  so  far  there  have  been  no  difficulties  or 
annoyances. 

I  left  the  British  Legation  at  noon  four  days  ago. 
The  handsome  Arab,  with  a  sheepskin  coat  rolled  on  the 
front  of  the  saddle,  holsters,  and  Persian  housings,  looked 
like  a  life-guardsman's  horse.  I  nearly  came  to  grief  as 
soon  as  I  got  out  of  the  Legation  gate ;  for  he  would  not 
stand  my  English  snaffle,  and  reared  and  threw  himself 
about,  and  my  spur  touching  him  as  he  did  so  made  him 


212  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  x 

quite  wild,  and  I  endured  much  apprehension  all  through 
Tihran,  expecting  to  find  myself  on  the  rough  pavement ; 
but  I  took  off  the  offending  spur,  and  rode  him  on  the 
sharp  bit  he  is  used  to,  and  when  we  were  outside  the 
gate  he  quietened  down,  and  I  had  a  long  gallop. 

How  different  it  all  looks !  No  more  floundering 
through  mud  !  The  trees  of  Abdul  Azim  are  green. 
Caravans  are  moving  fast  and  cheerily.  Even  the  dead 
on  their  last  journey  look  almost  cheerful  under  the 
sunny  skies.  We  did  not  reach  Husseinabad  till  long 
after  dark.  It  was  so  unspeakably  dark  that  my  horse 
and  I  fell  off  the  road  into  deep  water,  and  we  passed 
the  caravanserai  without  knowing  that  we  were  near  it. 

The  usual  disorder  of  a  first  night  was  somewhat 
worse  than  usual.  The  loads  were  mixed  up,  and  the 
servants  and  charvadars  were  quarrelling,  and  I  did  not 
get  my  dinner  till  ten ;  but  things  are  all  right  now,  and 
have  been  since  the  following  morning,  when  I  assumed 
the  reins  of  government  and  saw  the  mules  loaded  myself, 
an  efficient  interpreter  making  my  necessary  self-assertion 
intelligible. 

Though  the  spring  has  set  in,  most  of  the  country 
between  this  and  Tihran  looks  a  complete  desert.  In 
February  it  was  a  muddy  waste  —  it  is  now  a  dusty 
waste,  on  which  sheep,  goats,  and  camels  pick  up  a  gray 
herbage,  which  without  search  is  not  obvious  to  the 
human  eye,  and  consists  mostly  of  wormwood  and  othe,r 
bitter  and  aromatic  plants.  Off  the  road  a  few  tulips 
and  dwarf  irises  coming  up  out  of  the  dry  ground  show 
the  change  of  season. 

I  came  for  some  distance  on  one  day  by  a  road 
which  caravans  avoid  because  of  robbers.  It  crosses  a 
reddish  desert  with  a  few  salt  streams  and  much  saline 
efflorescence,  a  blasted  region  without  a  dwelling  or 
patch  of  cultivation.  Yet  a  four-mile  gallop  across  one 


LETTER  x  A  SUCCESSFUL  DISGUISE  213 

part  of  it  was  most  inspiriting.  As  the  two  Arabs, 
excited  by  the  pace,  covering  great  spaces  of  ground  with 
each  powerful  stride,  dashed  over  the  level  gravel  I 
thought,  "  They'll  have  fleet  steeds  that  follow  " ;  but  no 
steed  or  rider  or  bird  or  beast  was  visible  through  all 
that  hungry  land.  We  passed  also  close  to  a  salt  lake  on 
the  Kavir,  seen  in  the  distance  on  the  former  journey, 
near  which  are  now  pitched  a  quantity  of  Ilyat  tents,  all 
black.  The  wealth  of  these  nomads  is  in  camels,  sheep, 
and  goats.  Though  the  camps,  five  in  number,  were 
small,  they  had  over  200  camels  among  them. 

Where  four  weeks  ago  there  was  deep  mud  there  is 
now  the  glittering  semblance  of  unsullied  snow,  and  the 
likeness  of  frost  crystals  fills  the  holes.  Miles  of  camels 
loaded  with  cotton  march  with  stately  stride  in  single 
file,  the  noble  mountain  camel,  with  heavy  black  fur  on 
neck,  shoulder,  fore-arm,  and  haunch,  and  kindly  gentle 
eyes,  looking,  as  he  is,  the  king  of  baggage  animals,  not 
degraded  by  servitude,  though  he  may  carry  800  Ibs. 

Some  of  the  sights  of  the  road  were  painful.  For 
instance,  just  as  I  passed  a  caravan  of  the  dead  bound 
for  Kum  a  mule  collided  with  another  and  fell,  and  the 
loosely -put -together  boxes  on  its  back  gave  way  and 
corpses  fell  out  in  an  advanced  stage  of  decomposition. 
A  camel  just  dead  lay  in  a  gully.  On  a  ledge  of  rock 
above  it  seven  gorged  vultures  (not  the  bald-headed)  sat 
in  a  row.  They  had  already  feasted  on  him  to  repletion. 
I  passed  several  dead  camels,  and  one  with  a  pleading 
pathetic  face  giving  up  the  ghost  on  the  road. 

Yesterday  I  rode  in  here  from  the  magnificent  caravan- 
serai of  Shashgird,  sixteen  miles  in  three  hours  before 
lunch,  and  straight  through  the  crowded  bazars  to  the 
telegraph  office  unmolested,  an  Afghan  camel-driver's 
coat,  with  the  wool  outside,  having  proved  so  good  a 
disguise  that  the  gholam  who  was  sent  to  meet  me  returned 


214  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  x 

to  his  master  saying  that  he  had  not  seen  a  lady,  but  that 
a  foreign  soldier  and  sahib  had  come  into  Kum. 

When  my  visit  was  over  and  I  had  received  from  Mr. 
Lyne  the  route  to  Isfahan,  and  such  full  information 
about  rooms,  water,  and  supplies  as  will  enable  me  to 
give  my  own  orders,  and  escape  from  the  tyranny  of  the 
ckarvadars,  having  sent  the  horses  to  the  caravanserai  I 
disguised  myself  as  a  Persian  woman  of  the  middle  class 
in  the  dress  which  Mrs.  Lyne  wears  in  the  city,  a  thick 
white  crSpe  veil  with  open  stitch  in  front  of  the  eyes,  a 
black  sheet  covering  me  from  head  to  foot,  the  ends 
hanging  from  the  neck  by  long  loops,  and  held  with  the 
left  hand  just  below  the  eyes,  and  so,  though  I  failed  to 
imitate  the  totter  and  shuffle  of  a  Persian  lady's  walk,  I 
passed  unnoticed  through  the  long  and  crowded  streets 
of  this  fanatical  city,  attended  only  by  a  gholam,  and  at 
the  door  o,f  my  own  room  was  prevented  from  entering 
by  the  servants  till  my  voice  revealed  my  identity. 

Twice  to-day  I  have  passed  safely  through  the  city  in 
the  same  disguise,  and  have  even  lingered  in  front  of 
shops  without  being  detected.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lyne  have 
made  the  two  days  here  very  pleasant,  by  introducing  me 
to  Persians  in  whose  houses  I  have  seen  various  phases  of 
Persian  life.  On  reaching  one  house,  where  Mrs.  Lyne 
arrived  an  hour  later,  I  was  a  little  surprised  to  be  re- 
ceived by  the  host  in  uniform,  speaking  excellent  French, 
but  without  a  lady  with  him. 

He  had  been  very  kind  to  Hadji,  who,  he  says,  is  rich 
and  has  three  wives.  The  poor  fellow's  lungs  have  been 
affected  for  two  years,  and  the  affection  was  for  the  time 
aggravated  by  the  terrible  journey.  He  talked  a  good 
deal  about  Persian  social  customs,  especially  polygamy. 

He  explained  that  he  has  only  one  wife,  but  that  this 
is  because  he  has  been  fortunate.  He  said  that  he  regards 
polygamy  as  the  most  fruitful  source  of  domestic  unhappi- 


LETTER  x  DOMESTIC  DIFFICULTIES  215 

ness,  but  that  so  long  as  marriages  are  made  for  men  by 
their  mothers  and  sisters,  a  large  sum  being  paid  to  the 
bride's  father,  a  marriage  is  really  buying  "  a  pig  in  a 
poke,"  and  constantly  when  the  bride  comes  home  she  is 
ugly  or  bad-tempered  or  unpleasing  and  cannot  manage 
the  house.  "  This,"  he  said,  "  makes  men  polygamists 
who  would  not  otherwise  be  so. 

"Then  a  man  takes  another  wife,  and  perhaps  this  is 
repeated,  and  then  he  tries  again,  and  so  on,  and  the  house 
becomes  full  of  turmoil.  There  are  always  quarrels  in  a 
polygamous  household,"  he  said,  "  and  the  children  dispute 
about  the  property  after  the  father's  death."  Had  he  not 
been  fortunate,  and  had  not  his  wife  been  capable  of 
managing  the  house,  he  said  that  he  must  have  taken 
another  wife,  "  for,"  he  added,  "  no  man  can  bear  a  badly- 
managed  house." 

I  thought  of  the  number  of  men  in  England  who  have 
to  bear  it  without  the  Moslem  resource. 

A  lady  of  "  position "  must  never  go  out  except  on 
Fridays  to  the  mosque,  or  with  her  husband's  permission 
and  scrupulously  veiled  and  guarded,  to  visit  her  female 
friends.  Girl-children  begin  to  wear  the  chadar  between 
two  and  three  years  old,  and  are  as  secluded  as  their 
mothers,  nor  must  any  man  but  father  or  brother  see 
their  faces.  Some  marry  at  twelve  years  old. 

"  La  vie  des  femmes  dans  la  Perse  est  tres  triste,"  he 
said.  The  absence  of  anything  like  education  for  girls, 
except  in  Tihran,  and  the  want  of  any  reading-book  but 
the  Koran  for  boys  and  girls,  he  regards  as  a  calamity. 
He  may  be  a  pessimist  by  nature :  he  certainly  has  no 
hope  for  the  future  of  Persia,  and  contemplates  a  Russian 
occupation  as  a  certainty  in  the  next  twenty  years. 

After  a  long  conversation  I  asked  for  the  pleasure,  not 
of  seeing  his  wife,  but  the  "  mother  of  his  children,"  and 
was  rewarded  by  the  sight  of  a  gentle  and  lovely  woman 


216  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  x 

of  twenty-one  or  twenty-two,  graceful  in  every  movement 
but  her  walk,  exquisitely  refined -looking,  with  a  most 
becoming  timidity  of  expression,  mingled  with  gentle 
courtesy  to  a  stranger.  She  was  followed  by  three  very 
pretty  little  girls.  The  husband  and  wife  are  of  very  good 
family,  and  the  lady  has  an  unmistakably  well-bred  look. 

Though  I  knew  what  to  expect  in  the  costume  of  a 
woman  of  the  upper  classes,  I  was  astonished,  and  should 
have  been  scandalised  even  had  women  only  been  present. 
The  costume  of  ladies  has  undergone  a  great  change  in 
the  last  ninety  years,  and  the  extreme  of  the  fashion  is 
as  lacking  in  delicacy  as  it  is  in  comfort.  However,  much 
travelling  compels  one  to  realise  that  the  modesty  of  the 
women  of  one  country  must  not  be  judged  of  by  the 
rules  of  another,  and  a  lady  costumed  as  I  shall  attempt 
to  describe  would  avert  her  eyes  in  horror  by  no  means 
feigned  from  an  English  lady  in  a  Court  or  evening- 
dress  of  to-day. 

The  under  garment,  very  much  en  Evidence,  is  a  short 
chemise  of  tinselled  silk  gauze,  or  gold  -  embroidered 
muslin  so  transparent  as  to  leave  nothing  to  the  imagina- 
tion. This  lady  wore  a  skirt  of  flowered  silver  brocade, 
enormously  full,  ten  or  twelve  yards  wide,  made  to  stand 
nearly  straight  out  by  some  frills  or  skirts  of  very  stiffly 
starched  cotton  underneath,  the  whole,  not  even  on  a 
waistband  round  the  waist,  but  drawn  by  strings,  and 
suspended  over  the  hips,  the  skirts  coming  down  to  within 
a  few  inches  of  the  knee,  leaving  the  white  rounded 
limbs  uncovered.  The  effect  of  this  exaggerated 
louffante  skirt  is  most  singular.  White  socks  are  worn. 
Over  the  transparent  pirahan,  or  chemise,  she  wore  a 
short  velvet  jacket  beautifully  embroidered  in  gold, 
with  its  fronts  about  ten  inches  apart,  so  as  to  show 
the  flowered  chemise.  Her  eyebrows  were  artificially 
curved  and  lengthened  till  they  appeared  to  meet  above 


LETTER  x  A  PERSIAN  LADY  217 

her  nose,  her  eyelashes  were  marked  round  with  Jcohl,  and 
a  band  of  blue-black  paint  curving  downwards  above  the 
nose  crossed  her  forehead,  but  was  all  but  concealed  by 
a  small  white  square  of  silk  crfye  on  the  head  and  brow 
and  fastened  under  the  chin  by  a  brooch. 

Had  she  been  in  another  house  she  would  have  worn 
a  large  square  of  gold-embroidered  silk,  with  the  points 
in  front  and  behind,  and  fastened  under  the  chin.  Under 
the  crgpe  square  there  was  a  small  skull-cap  of  gold- 
embroidered  velvet,  matching  her  little  zouave  jacket, 
with  an  aigrette  of  gems  at  the  side.  Her  arms  were 
covered  with  bracelets,  and  a  number  of  valuable  necklaces 
set  off  the  beauty  of  her  dazzlingly  white  neck. 

Persian  ladies  paint,  or  rather  smear,  but  her  young 
pure  complexion  needed  no  such  aids.  Her  front  hair, 
cut  to  the  level  of  her  mouth,  hung  down  rather  straight, 
and  the  remainder,  which  was  long,  was  plaited  into  many 
small  glossy  plaits.  Contrary  to  custom,  it  was  undyed, 
and  retained  its  jet-black  colour.  Most  Persian  ladies 
turn  jt  blue-black  with  indigo,  or  auburn  with  henna,  and 
with  the  latter  the  finger-nails  and  palms  of  the  hands 
are  always  stained. 

Her  jewellery  was  all  of  solid  gold ;  hollow  gold  and 
silver  ornaments  being  only  worn  by  the  poor.  She  wore 
a  chain  with  four  scent  caskets  attached  to  it  exhaling 
attar  of  roses  and  other  choice  perfumes. 

She  was  a  graceful  and  attractive  creature  in  spite  of 
her  costume.  She  waited  on  her  husband  and  on  me, 
that  is,  she  poured  out  the  tea  and  moved  about  the 
room  for  hot  water  and  bonbons  with  the  feeble,  tottering 
gait  of  a  woman  quite  unaccustomed  to  exercise,  and  to 
whom  the  windy  wastes  outside  the  city  walls  and  a 
breezy  gallop  are  quite  unknown.  The  little  girls  were 
dressed  in  the  style  of  adults,  and  wore  tinselled  gauze 
chaddrs  or  chargats. 


218  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  x 

After  seeing  a  good  deal  of  home  life  during  some 
months  in  Persia,  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  is  no  child  life.  Swaddled  till  they  can 
walk,  and  then  dressed  as  little  men  and  women,  with 
the  adult  tyrannies  of  etiquette  binding  upon  them, 
and  in  the  case  of  girls  condemned  from  infancy  to  the 
seclusion  of  the  andarun,  there  is  not  a  trace  of  the 
spontaneity  and  nonsense  which  we  reckon  as  among 
the  joys  of  childhood,  or  of  such  a  complete  and  beautiful 
child  life  as  children  enjoy  in  Japan.  There  does  not 
appear  to  be  any  child  talk.  The  Persian  child  from 
infancy  is  altogether  interested  in  the  topics  of  adults ; 
and  as  the  conversation  of  both  'sexes  is  said  by  those 
who  know  them  best  to  be  without  reticence  or  modesty, 
the  purity  which  is  one  of  the  greatest  charms  of  child- 
hood is  absolutely  unknown.  Parental  love  is  very 
strong  in  Persia,  and  in  later  days  the  devotion  of  the 
mother  to  the  boy  is  amply  returned  by  the  grown-up 
son,  who  regards  her  comfort  as  his  charge,  and  her 
wishes  as  law,  even  into  old  age. 

When  tea  was  over  the  host  retired  with  the  remark 
that  the  ladies  would  prefer  to  amuse  themselves  alone, 
and  then  a  Princess  and  another  lady  arrived  attended 
by  several  servants.  This  Princess  came  in  the  black 
silk  sheet  with  a  suggestion  of  gold  about  its  border  which 
is  the  street  disguise  of  women  of  the  richer  classes, 
and  she  wore  huge  bag-like  violet  trousers,  into  which 
her  voluminous  skirts  were  tucked. 

She  emerged  from  these  wrappings  a  "  harmony "  in 
rose  colour — a  comely  but  over-painted  young  woman  in 
rose  and  silver  brocade  skirts,  a  rose  velvet  jacket  em- 
broidered in  silver,  a  transparent  white  muslin  pirakdn 
with  silver  stars  upon  it,  and  a  chargat  of  white  muslin 
embroidered  in  rose  silk. 

She  and    the    hostess  sat   on    a    rug  in    front  of  a 


LETTER  x  ANDARUN  AMUSEMENTS  219 

fire,  and  servants  now  and  then  handed  them  kalians. 
The  three  little  girls  and  the  guest's  little  girl  were  in 
the  background.  The  doors  were  then  fastened  and  a 
number  of  servants  came  in  and  entertained  their 
mistresses.  Two  sang  and  accompanied  themselves  on 
a  sort  of  tambourine.  Tea  was  handed  round  at  intervals. 
There  was  dancing,  and  finally  two  or  three  women  acted 
some  little  scenes  from  a  popular  Persian  play.  By 
these  amusements,  I  am  told,  the  women  of  the  upper 
classes  get  rid  of  time  when  they  visit  each  other ;  and 
they  spend  much  of  their  lives  in  afternoon  visiting, 
taking  care  to  be  back  before  sunset.  After  a  long  time 
the  gentle  hostess,  reading  in  my  face  that  I  was  not 
enjoying  the  performances,  on  which  indeed  unaccustomed 
English  eyes  could  not  look,  brought  them  to  a  close, 
and  showed  me  some  of  her  beautiful  dresses  and  em- 
broidered fabrics. 

Putting  on  my  disguise  and  attended  by  a  servant  I 
walked  a  third  time  unrecognised  and  unmolested  through 
the  crowded  bazars,  through  the  gate  and  across  the 
bridge,  when  a  boy  looked  quite  into  my  shroud,  which 
I  was  not  perhaps  clutching  so  tightly  as  in  the  crowd, 
and  exclaiming  several  times  Kafir,  ran  back  into  the 
city.  I  did  not  run,  but  got  back  to  the  "  hotel "  as 
fast  as  possible. 

It  is  very  noisy,  and  my  room  being  on  the  ground 
floor,  and  having  three  doors,  there  is  little  peace 
either  by  day  or  night.  Thirteen  days  from  the  No 
Euz  or  New  Year,  which  was  March  21,  are  kept  as  a 
feast  before  the  severe  fast  of  the  Ramazan,  and  this 
city  of  pilgrims  is  crowded,  and  all  people  put  on  new 
clothes,  the  boys  being  chiefly  dressed  in  green. 

To-morrow  I  begin  my  journey  over  new  ground. 

i.  L.  r>. 


220  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xi 


LETTER  XI 

KASHAN,  March  26. 

I  HAVE  seen  the  last  of  Kum  and  hotels  and  made  roads 
for  many  months.  So  much  the  better !  I  had  to  ride 
the  whole  length  of  the  bazars  and  the  city,  a  mile  and 
a  half,  but  the  camel -driver's  coat  served  again  as  a 
disguise,  and  I  heard  no  remarks  except  from  two  boys. 
Indeed  I  am  delighted  to  find  that  the  "  foreign  soldier  " 
who  rides  in  front  of  me  attracts  so  much  curiosity  that 
I  pass  in  his  wake  unnoticed. 

The  ruinous  condition  of  Kum  is  fearful.  Once 
outside  the  houses  and  bazars  which  surround  the 
shrine  of  Fatima,  the  town  is  mostly  rubbish  and  litter, 
with  forlorn,  miserable  houses  created  out  of  the 
rubbish,  grouped  near  festering  pools ;  broken  cause- 
ways infamously  paved,  full  of  holes,  heaps  of  pot- 
sherds, bones  obtruding  themselves,  nothing  to  please 
and  everything  to  disgust  the  eye  and  sadden  the 
spirit,  religious  intolerance,  a  diminished  population,  and 
desolation. 

The  pottery  bazar,  abounding  in  blue  glazed  ware  of 
graceful  shapes,  and  a  number  of  shrines  of  saints,  are 
the  only  objects  of  interest.  The  domes  of  the  latter 
were  once  covered  with  blue  tiles,  but  these  have  nearly 
all  peeled  off,  leaving  the  universal  mud — a  mud  so 
self-asserting  everywhere  that  Persia  may  be  called  the 
"  Great  Mud  Land."  The  cherry  and  apricot  trees  are 


ETTERXI  HALCYON  DAYS  221 

in  full  bloom,  but  as  yet  there  is  little  greenery  round 
Kum,  and  the  area  of  cultivation  is  very  limited. 

I  am  now  on  the  road  which,  with  the  exception  of 
that  from  Tihran  to  Resht,  is  best  known  to  travellers,1 
but  I  cannot  help  sketching  it  briefly,  though  the  interests 
are  few  considering  the  distance  travelled,  280  miles 
from  Tihran  to  Isfahan.  I  now  see  Persia  for  the  first 
time ;  for  traversing  a  country  buried  in  snow  is  not 
seeing  it.  It  would  be  premature  to  express  the  opinion 
that  the  less  one  sees  of  it  the  more  one  is  likely  to 
admire  it. 

I  have  been  en  route  for  a  week  under  the  best 
possible  circumstances — the  nights  always  cool,  the  days 
never  too  warm,  the  accommodation  tolerable,  the  caravan 
in  excellent  working  order,  no  annoyances,  and  no  griev- 
ances. The  soldier  who  attends  me  arranges  everything 
for  my  comfort,  and  is  always  bright  and  kind.  I  have 
no  ambition  to  "  beat  the  record,"  but  long  gallops  on  a 
fine  Arab  horse  turn  marches  of  from  twenty-two  to 
thirty  miles  into  delightful  morning  rides  of  from  three 
and  a  half  to  four  and  a  half  hours,  with  long  pleasant 
afternoons  following  them,  and  sound  sleep  at  night.  These 
are  my  halcyon  days  of  Persian  travelling;  and  yet  I 
cannot  write  that  Persia  is  beautiful 

It  is  early  spring,  and  tulips  and  irises  rise  not  out  of  a 
carpet  of  green  but,  to  use  the  descriptive  phrase  of  Isaiah, 
"  as  a  root  out  of  a  dry  ground,"  the  wormwood  is  dressed 
in  its  gray-green,  the  buds  of  the  wild  dwarf-almond 
show  their  tender  pink,  the  starry  blossom  of  the  nar- 
cissus gleams  in  moist  places,  the  sky  is  exquisitely  blue, 
and  shining  cloud-masses  fleck  the  brown  hillsides  with 
violet  shadows.  Where  there  is  irrigation  carpets  of 
young  wheat  cover  the  ground  ;  but  these,  like  the  villages, 

1  It  is  new  to  me,  however,  and  may  be  new  to  a  large  proportion  of  the 
'  untravelled  many  "  for  whom  I  write. 


222  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xi 

occur  only  at  long  intervals,  for  the  road  passes  mainly 
through  a  country  destitute  of  water,  or  rather  of  arrange- 
ments for  storing  it. 

As  to  natural  trees  there  are  none,  and  even  the  bushes 
are  few  and  unlovely,  chiefly  camel  thorn  and  a  rigid  and 
thorny  tamarisk.  Beyond  Kum  there  is  no  made  road. 
A  track  worn  by  the  caravans  of  ages  exists, — sometimes 
parallel  ruts  for  a  width  of  half  a  mile,  sometimes  not 
two  yards  wide,  and  now  and  then  lapsing  into  illegi- 
bility. There  are  large  and  small  caravanserais  of  an 
inferior  class  along  the  route,  and  chapar  khanas  at  inter- 
vals. Water  is  often  bad  and  sometimes  brackish.  It 
is  usually  supplied  from  small  brick  abambars,  or  covered 
reservoirs.  Milk  is  hard  to  obtain,  often  impossible ;  at 
some  places  fowls  can  be  bought  for  eightpence  each,  and 
"  flap  jacks  "  everywhere. 

Except  the  snowy  cone  of  Demavend,  with  purple 
ranges  curtaining  his  feet,  no  special  object  of  admira- 
tion exists;  the  plains  are  reddish,  yellowish,  barren, 
gravelly,  or  splotched  with  salt ;  the  ranges  of  hills, 
which  are  never  far  off  (for  Persia  is  a  land  of  moun- 
tains), are  either  shapeless  and  gravelly,  or  rocky,  rugged, 
and  splintered,  their  hue  reddish  and  purplish,  their  sides 
scored  by  the  spring  rush  of  wasted  torrents,  their  aspect 
one  of  complete  desolation,  yet  not  without  a  certain 
beauty  at  this  season — rose-flushed  in  the  early  morning, 
passing  through  shades  of  cobalt  and  indigo  through  the 
day,  and  dying  away  at  sunset  in  translucent  amethyst 
against  a  sky  of  ruddy  gold. 

But,  take  away  the  atmospheric  colouring — which  the 
advancing  heat  will  abolish — and  the  plain  English  of  the 
route  is  this,  that  in  every  direction,  far  as  the  eye  can 
reach,  the  country  is  a  salt  waste  or  a  gravelly  waste, 
with  a  few  limited  oases  of  cultivation  on  the  plains  and 
in  the  folds  of  the  hills,  always  treeless,  except  round 


LETTER  xi  TRAVELLING  POST  223 

a  few  of  the  villages,  where  there  are  small  groves  of 
poplars  and  willows.  The  villages  are  clusters  of  mud 
hovels,  scarcely  distinguishable  from  the  wastes,  and  many 
of  them  are  ruined  and  deserted,  oppressive  exactions  or 
a  failure  of  water  being  common  reasons  for  a  migra- 
tion. These  dismal  ruins  are  shapeless  heaps  of  mud, 
the  square  towers  of  the  square  walls  alone  retaining  any 
semblance  of  form. 

Long  lines  of  choked  kanaats,  denoted  by  their  crumb- 
ling shafts,  attest  the  industrious  irrigation  of  a  former 
day.  Tracks  wind  wearily  among  shrunken  villages,  or 
cross  ridges  of  mud  or  gravel  to  take  their  unlovely  way 
over  arid  stony  plains.  Unwatered  tracts  of  land,  once 
cultivated,  as  the  kanaats  show,  but  now  deserts  of  sand 
and  stones,  send  up  gyrating  clouds  of  gritty  dust. 

Such  is  Persia  between  its  two  capitals;  and  yet  I 
repeat  that  in  cool  weather,  and  on  a  good  horse,  the 
journey  is  a  very  pleasant  one.  Most  European  men 
ride  chapar,  that  is,  post;  but  from  what  I  see  of  the 
chapar  horses,  I  would  not  do  it  for  the  sake  of  doubling 
the  distance  travelled  in  the  day,  and  therefore  cannot 
describe  either  its  pleasures  or  tortures  from  experience. 

On  certain  roads,  as  from  Tihran  to  Shiraz,  there  are 
post  stations  (chapar  khana)  with  horses  and  men  at 
distances  of  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  miles,  with  a 
charge  of  one  kran  (eightpence)  per  farsakh  (four  miles) 
for  each  horse  engaged,  an  order  having  been  previously 
obtained  from  a  government  official.  Besides  your  own 
horse  you  have  to  take  one  for  the  shasgird  chapar,  or 
post-boy,  who  has  to  take  the  horses  back,  and  one  for  the 
servant.  The  two  latter  carry  the  very  limited  kit, 
which  includes  a  long  cotton  bag,  which,  being  filled 
with  chopped  straw  at  night,  forms,  the  traveller's  bed. 
The  custom  is  to  ride  through  all  the  hours  of  daylight 
whenever  horses  are  to  be  got,  doing  from  sixty  to 


224  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xi 

ninety  miles  a  day,  always  inspired  by  the  hope  of 
"  cutting  the  record,"  even  by  half  an  hour,  and  winning 
undying  fame. 

The  horses,  which  are  kept  going  at  a  canter  so  long 
as  they  can  be  thrashed  into  one,  are  small  and  active, 
and  do  wonders ;  but  from  the  strain  put  upon  them,  bad 
feeding,  sore  backs,  and  general  dilapidation  and  exhaus- 
tion, are  constantly  tumbling  down.  Several  times  I 
have  seen  wretched  animals  brought  into  the  yards, 
apparently  "  dead  beat,"  and  after  getting  some  chopped 
straw  and  a  little  barley  thrashed  into  a  canter  again 
for  twenty-five  miles  more,  because  the  traveller  could 
not  get  a  remount.  They  often  fall  down  dead  under 
their  riders,  urged  by  the  heavy  chapar  whip  to  the  last. 

Hiding  chapar,  journeying  in  a  taktrawan  or  litter,  or  in 
a  hajaweh,  or  riding  caravan  pace,  by  which  only  about 
thirty  miles  a  day  can  be  covered,  are  the  only  modes 
of  travelling  in  Persia,  though  I  think  that  with  capable 
assistance  a  carriage  might  make  the  journey  from  Tihran 
as  far  as  Kashan. 

I  lodge  in  the  chapar  khanas  whenever  I  can.  They 
consist  of  mud  walls  fourteen  feet  high,  enclosing  yards 
deep  in  manure,  with  stabling  for  the  chapar  horses  on 
two  sides,  and  recesses  in  their  inner  walls  for  mangers. 
The  entrance  is  an  arched  gateway.  There  are  usually 
two  dark  rooms  at  the  sides,  which  the  servants  occupy 
and  cook  in,  and  over  the  gateway  is  the  balalchana,  an 
abortive  tower,  attained  by  a  steep  and  crumbling  stair, 
in  which  I  encamp.  The  one  room  has  usually  two 
doors,  half -fitting  and  non-shutting,  and  perhaps  a 
window  space  or  two,  and  the  ashes  of  the  last  traveller's 
fire. 

Such  a  breezy  rest  just  suits  me,  and  when  my  camp 
furniture  has  been  arranged  and  I  am  enjoying  my 
"  afternoon  tea,"  I  feel  "  monarch  of  all  I  survey,"  even 


LETTER  xi  THE  BREEZY  DESERT  225 

of  the  boundless  desert,  over  which  the  cloud  shadows 
chase  each  other  till  it  purples  in  the  light  of  the  sink- 
ing sun.  If  there  is  the  desert  desolation  there  is  also 
the  desert  freedom. 

The  first  halt  was  delicious  after  the  crowds  and 
fanaticism  of  Kum.  A  broad  plain  with  irrigated 
patches  and  a  ruinous  village  was  passed ;  then  came 
the  desert,  an  expanse  of  cam  el -brown  gravel  thickly 
strewn  with  stones,  with  a  range  of  low  serrated 
brown  hills,  with  curious  stratification,  on  the  east.  A 
few  caravans  of  camels,  and  the  haram  of  the  Governor 
of  Yezd  in  closely -covered  kajawehs,  alone  broke  the 
monotony.  Before  I  thought  we  were  half  -  way  we 
reached  the  abambars,  the  small  brown  caravanserai,  and 
the  chapar  khana  of  Passangham,  having  ridden  in  three 
hours  a  distance  on  which  I  have  often  expended  eight. 

Cool  and  breezy  it  was  in  my  room,  and  cooler  and 
breezier  on  the  flat  mud  roof;  and  the  lifting  of  some 
clouds  in  the  far  distance  to  the  north,  beyond  the  great 
sweep  of  the  brown  desert,  revealed  the  mighty  Elburz 
range,  white  with  new-fallen  snow.  At  Sinsin  the  next 
evening  it  was  gloriously  cold.  There  had  been  another 
heavy  snowfall,  and  in  the  evening  the  Elburz  range, 
over  a  hundred  miles  away,  rose  in  unsullied  whiteness 
like  a  glittering  wall,  and  above  it  the  colossal  cone  of 
Demavend,  rose-flushed. 

The  routine  of  the  day  is  simple  and  easy.  I  get  the 
caravan  off  at  eight,  lie  on  the  floor  for  an  hour,  gallop  and 
walk  for  about  half  the  march,  rest  for  an  hour  in  some 
place,  where  Mahboud,  the  soldier,  always  contrives  to 
bring  me  a  glass  of  tea,  and  then  gallop  and  walk  to  the 
halting  -  place,  where  I  rest  for  another  hour  till  the 
caravan  comes  in.  I  now  know  exactly  what  to  pay, 
and  by  giving  small  presents  get  on  very  easily. 

There  were  many  uncomfortable  prophecies  about  the 
VOL.  i  Q 


226  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xi 

annoyances  and  rudenesses  which  a  lady  travelling  alone 
would  meet  with,  but  so  far  not  one  has  been  fulfilled. 
How  completely  under  such  circumstances  one  has  to 
trust  one's  fellow-creatures  !  There  are  no  fastenings  on 
the  doors  of  these  breezy  rooms,  and  last  night  there 
was  only  the  longitudinal  half  of  a  door,  but  I  fell  asleep, 
fearing  nothing  worse  than  a  predatory  cat. 

The  last  two  days'  marches  have  been  chiefly  over 
stony  wastes,  or  among  low  hills  of  red  earth,  gray  gravel, 
and  brown  rnud,  with  low  serrated  ranges  beyond,  and 
farther  yet  high  hills  covered  with  snow,  after  which  the 
road  leaves  the  hills  and  descends  upon  a  pink  plain, 
much  of  the  centre  of  which  is  snow-white  from  saline 
efflorescence.  The  villages  Kasseinabad,  Nasrabad,  and 
Aliabad  are  passed  on  the  plain,  with  small  fruit  trees 
and  barley  surrounding  them,  and  great  mud  caravan- 
serais at  intervals,  only  remarkable  for  the  number  of 
camels  lying  outside  of  them,  in  rows  facing  each  other. 
In  the  fresh  keen  air  of  evening  the  cone  of  Demavend 
was  painted  in  white  on  the  faint  blue  sky,  reddening 
into  beauty  as  the  purple-madder  shadows  deepened  over 
the  yellow  desert. 

Tea  made  with  saltish  water,  and  salt  sheep's  milk, 
have  been  the  only  drawbacks  of  the  six  days'  march. 

Not  far  from  Kashan  we  entered  on  a  great 
alluvial  plain  formed  of  fine  brown  earth  without  a 
single  stone — a  prolific  soil  if  it  had  water,  as  the  fruit 
trees  and  abundant  crops  of  young  wheat  round  the 
villages  show.  So  level,  and  on  the  whole  so  smooth,  is 
this  plain  that  it  possesses  the  prodigy  of  a  public  con- 
veyance, an  omnibus  with  four  horses  abreast,  which 
makes  its  laborious  way  with  the  aid  of  several  attendants, 
who  lift  the  wheels  out  of  holes,  prevent  it  from  capsizing, 
and  temporarily  fill  up  the  small  irrigation  ditches  which 
it  has  to  cross.  Its  progress  is  less  "  by  leaps  and  bounds  " 


LETTER  xi    THE  INDO-EUROPEAN  TELEGRAPH  227 

than  by  jolts  and  rolls,  and  as  my  Arab  horse  bounded 
past  I  wondered  that  six  men  could  be  found  to  exchange 
the  freedom  of  the  saddle  for  such  a  jerky,  stuffy  box. 

Five  hundred  yards  from  the  gate  of  Kashan  there  is 
a  telegraph  station  of  the  Indo-European  line,  where 
M.  du  Vignau  and  his  wife  expected  me,  and  have 
received  me  with  great  kindness  and  hospitality.  The 
electricians  at  these  stations  are  allowed  to  receive  guests 
in  what  is  known  as  the  "  Inspectors'  Boom,"  and  they 
exercise  this  liberty  most  kindly  and  generously.  Many 
a  weary  traveller  looks  back  upon  the  "  Inspectors'  Room  " 
as  upon  an  oasis  in  the  desert  of  dirt ;  and  though  I 
cannot  class  myself  just  now  with  "  weary  travellers,"  I 
cordially  appreciate  the  kindness  which  makes  one  "  at 
home,"  and  the  opportunity  of  exchanging  civilised  ideas 
for  a  few  hours. 

I  must  not  go  beyond  Kashan  without  giving  a  few 
words  to  the  Persian  section  of  the  Indo-European 
telegraph  line,  one  of  the  greatest  marvels  of  telegraph 
construction,  considering  the  nature  of  the  country  which 
the  line  traverses.  Tihran  is  the  centre  of  telegraphic 
control,  and  the  residence  of  Colonel  Wells,  RE.,  the 
Director,  with  a  staff  of  twenty  telegraphists,  who  work 
in  relays  day  and  night,  and  a  Medical  Officer.  Julfa  is 
another  place  of  importance  on  the  line,  and  at  Shiraz 
there  is  another  Medical  Officer. 

The  prompt  repair  of  the  wires  in  cases  of  interruption 
is  carefully  arranged  for.  At  suitable  places,  such  as 
Kum,  Soh,  Kashan,  and  other  towns  or  villages  from  fifty 
to  eighty  miles  apart,  there  are  control  or  testing  stations, 
each  being  in  charge  of  a  European  telegraphist,  who  has 
under  him  two  Persian  horsemen,  who  have  been  well 
trained  as  linesmen.  At  stated  hours  the  clerks  place 
their  instruments*  in  circuit,  and  ascertain  if  all  is  right. 

If  this  testing  reveals  any  fault,  it  can  be  localised  at 


228  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xi 

once,  and  horsemen  are  despatched  from  the  control 
stations  on  either  side  of  it,  with  orders  to  ride  rapidly 
along  the  line  until  they  meet  at  the  fault  and  repair  it. 
As  the  telegraph  crosses  passes  such  as  Kuhrud,  at  an 
altitude  of  over  8000  feet,  the  duties  of  both  inspectors 
and  linesmen  are  most  severe,  full  not  only  of  hardship 
but  of  danger  in  terrible  winter  storms  and  great  depths 
of  .snow,  yet  on  their  ceaseless  watchfulness  and  fidelity 
the  safety  of  our  Indian  Empire  may  some  day  depend. 

The  skill  brought  to  bear  upon  the  manipulation  of 
this  Government  line  from  the  Gulf,  and  throughout  the 
whole  system  of  which  it  is  a  part,  is  wonderful. 
Messages  from  any  part  of  the  United  Kingdom  now 
reach  any  part  of  India  in  less  than  an  hour  and  a  half, 
and  in  only  about  one  word  in  two  hundred  does  even 
the  most  trifling  mistake  occur  in  transmission,  a  result 
all  the  more  surprising  when  it  is  remembered  that  the 
telegrams  are  almost  entirely  either  in  code  or  cypher, 
and  that  over  1000  are  transmitted  in  the  course  of  a 
day. 

Among  these  are  the  long  despatches  continually 
passing  between  the  Viceroy  of  India  and  the  India 
Office  on  vitally  important  subjects,  and  press  telegrams 
of  every  noteworthy  event.  The  "  exhaustive  summary  " 
of  Indian  news  which  appears  weekly  in  the  Times, 
accompanied  by  a  commentary  on  events,  is  an  altogether 
un- padded  telegram,  and  is  transmitted  with  punctua- 
tion complete,  and  even  with  inverted  commas  for 
quotations.1 

The  English  staff,  numbering  from  fifty  to  sixty  men, 
is  scattered  along  a  line  of  1900  miles.  Some  of  them 

1  Major-Gcneral  Sir  R.  Murdoch  Smith,  K.C.M.G.,  late  Director  of  the 
Persian  section  of  the  Indo-European  telegraph,  read  a  very  interesting 
paper  upon  it  before  the  Royal  Scottish  Geographical  Society  on  December 
13,  1888, — a  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Telegraphic  Communication  between 
the  United  Kingdom  and  India. 


LETTER  xi  THE  TELEGRAPH  STAFF  229 

are  married,  and  most  occupy  isolated  positions,  so  far 
as  other  Europeans  are  concerned.  It  is  the  universal 
testimony  of  Englishmen  and  Persians  that  the  relations 
between  them  have  been  for  many  years  of  the  most 
friendly  character,  full  of  good-will  and  mutual  friendly 
offices,  and  that  the  continual  contact  brought  about  by 
the  nature  of  the  duties  of  the  electricians  has  been  pro- 
ductive not  of  aversion  and  distrust,  but  of  cordial  apprecia- 
tion on  both  sides.  I.  L.  B. 


230  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xi 


LETTEE    XI  (Continued) 

KASHAN  is  one  of  the  hottest  places  on  the  great  Persian 
plateau,  but  has  the  rare  luxury  of  a  good  water  supply 
brought  from  a  reservoir  some  distance  off  in  the  Kuhrud 
mountains.  It  has  a  much-diminished  population,  said 
now  to  number  30,000  souls.  Much  of  it  is  in  ruins, 
and  much  more  is  ruinous.  It  has  a  thriving  colony  of 
Jews.  It  is  noted  for  its  silks  and  velvets ;  but  the 
modern  productions  are  regarded  by  judges  as  degenerate. 
It  is  still  famous  for  its  work  in  copper  and  for  its 
great  copper  bazar. 

Silk  produced  at  Resht  is  brought  here  to  be  spun 
and  dyed.  Then  it  is  sent  to  Sultanabad  to  be  woven 
into  carpets,  and  is  brought  back  again  to  have  the 
pile  cut  by  the  sharp  instruments  used  for  cutting 
velvet  pile,  and  the  finished  carpets  are  sent  to  Tihran 
for  sale.  They  are  only  made  in  small  sizes,  and 
are  more  suitable  for  portieres  than  for  laying  on  the 
floor.  The  colouring  is  exquisite,  and  the  metallic  sheen 
and  lustre  are  unique.  Silk  carpets  are  costly  luxuries. 
The  price  of  even  a  fairly  good  one  of  very  small  size  is 
£50,  the  silk  alone  costing  £20. 

Kashan  is  a  great  place  for  curio  buyers,  who  enlist 
the  Jews  in  their  service.  There  are  some  valuable 
antiques  in  this  house — embroideries,  carpet  squares  in 
silk,  glass  whose  greenish  colour  and  grace  of  form 
remind  me  of  Venetian  glass,  enamels  on  porcelain,  tiles, 


LETTER  xi  REFLET  TILES  231 

metal  inlaying  and  damascening,  pierced  brasswork,  and 
many  other  articles  of  vertu,  the  art  of  making  which  is 
either  lost  or  has  greatly  degenerated. 

It  is  unaccountable,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  secret 
of  producing  the  higher  types  of  beauty  in  various  arts, 
especially  the  Keramic,  died  out  more  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  ago,  and  that  there  are  no  circumstances 
of  that  date  to  account  for  its  decease,  except  that  it  is 
recorded  that  when  the  Afghan  conqueror  Mahmoud 
destroyed  Isfahan  he  massacred  the  designers  of  reJUt 
tiles  and  other  Keramic  beauties,  because  they  had 
created  works  which  gave  great  umbrage  to  the  Suuni 
sect  to  which  he  belonged. 

These  reflets,  for  which  collectors  give  fabulous  sums, 
are  intrinsically  beautiful,  both  in  the  elegant  concep- 
tions of  their  designs  and  the  fantastic  richness  of  their 
colouring.  There  are  designs  in  shades  of  brown 
on  a  lapis -lazuli  ground,  or  in  blue  and  green  on  a 
purple  or  umber  ground,  some  of  them  star-shaped,  with 
a  pure  white  border  composing  the  rest  of  the  square,  on 
which  are  inscribed  phrases  from  the  Koran.  Looked 
at  from  above  or  frontwise,  one  exclaims, "  What  a  beau- 
tiful tile  ! "  but  it  is  on  turning  it  to  the  light  that 
one's  stereotyped  phrases  of  admiration  are  exchanged  for 
silence  in  presence  of  a  singular  iridescence  which  trans- 
figures the  tile,  making  it  seem  to  gleam  from  within 
with  golden  purples  and  rosy  gold. 

The  mosaic  tiles  are  also  beautiful,  especially  where 
the  mosaic  is  on  a  lapis-lazuli  or  canary-yellow  ground, 
neither  of  them  reproducible  at  this  day ;  and  this  also 
refers  to  other  shades  of  blue,  and  to  various  reds  and 
browns  of  exceeding  richness,  the  art  of  making  which 
has  been  lost  for  a  century.  But  enough  of  art ! 

Possibly  there  may  be  a  resurrection  for  Persian  art ; 
but  in  the  meantime  aniline  dyes,  tawdry  European 


232  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xi 

importations,  and  Western  models  without  either  grace 
or  originality  are  doing  their  best  to  deprave  it  here,  as 
elsewhere. 

Roads  from  Tihran,  Gulpaigan,  Yezd,  and  Isfahan 
meet  here,  and  it  is  something  of  what  the  Americans 
call  "  a  distributing  point,"  but  it  is  a  most  uninviting  place, 
in  situation  and  general  aspect,  and  its  unsightly  mud 
ruins,  as  in  other  Persian  cities,  are  eloquent  of  nothing 
but  paralysis  and  retrogression. 

Murcheh  Khurt,  Palm  Sunday,  March  30. — Three  very 
pleasant  marches,  equal  to  seventy-six  miles,  have  brought 
me  here,  and  now  Isfahan  is  only  two  days  off,  and  it 
will  end  my  palmy  days  of  Persian  travelling. 

The  first  day's  march  from  Kashan  was  only  seven 
farsdkhs  (the  parasang  of  Xenophon),  twenty-eight  miles, 
but  it  is  equivalent  to  thirty-five,  owing  to  the  roughness 
of  the  road  and  the  long  ascent.  There  was  scarcely  any 
ground  for  galloping,  the  way  was  lost  once,  and  the 
march  took  over  eight  hours. 

The  track,  for  only  in  places  did  it  attain  to  the 
dignity  of  a  bridle-road,  lay  for  hours  over  a  stony 
desert,  and  then  entered  the  mountains,  where  I  halted  for 
an  hour  at  the  once  magnificent  caravanserai  of  Gaberabad, 
in  a  romantic  situation,  but  falling  fast  into  ruins,  and 
deserted  for  no  reason,  so  far  as  I  could  make  out,  but 
that  people  used  to  be  robbed  and  have  their  throats  cut 
there. 

Beyond  it  the  scenery  became  very  wild,  and  the  rocks 
and  mountains  highly  coloured  and  snow -patched,  and 
after  ascending  along  the  side  of  a  stream  and  up  a 
causewayed  sort  of  stair  past  the  reservoir  which  sup- 
plies Kashan  with  water,  we  entered  the  rising  valley  of 
Kuhrud,  where  the  snow  came  nearly  down  to  the  road, 
and  every  slope  was  terraced  and  every  level  cultivated, 
and  young  wheat  was  springing  and  fruit  orchards 


LETTER  xi  A  CHAPAR  KHANA  233 

flourished,  with  green  sward  under  the  branches,  and  great 
poplars  in  picturesque  groups  towered  above  the  lower 
woods. 

"We  lost  the  way  in  the  snow,  and  then  took  to  the 
pebbly  river  as  the  safest  track,  and  had  an  hour  of 
fumbling  in  water  and  snow  under  apple  and  pear  trees 
for  the  halting-place.  The  twilight  of  a  frosty  evening 
was  coming  on  when  we  reached  the  village  of  Kuhrud — 
500  houses  in  terraces  on  a  mountain  side,  and  clustering 
round  a  fort  on  a  projecting  spur. 

It  is  surrounded  and  interpenetrated  by  groves  of 
walnut,  apricot,  cherry,  peach,  plum,  apple,  pear,  poplar, 
and  vine,  with  roses  climbing  over  everything  and  planted 
in  rows  like  vines,  and  through  it  passes  a  fair,  bright 
stream  of  living  water,  a  stream  "  whose  waters  fail  not," 
turning  the  mountain  valley  into  an  oasis.  But  at  that 
altitude  of  something  like  7000  feet,  the  buds  are  only 
just  swelling,  and  the  crimson  catkins  of  the  hazels  were 
the  only  reminder  of  spring.  It  is  the  one  place  that  I 
should  care  to  revisit. 

The  snow  was  piled  in  great  heaps  in  the  village  and 
against  the  wall  of  the  very  wretched,  ruinous  chapar 
khana  in  which  I  sought  rest  and  shelter.  Mahboud 
went  up  to  the  loft  over  the  gateway,  and  came  down 
looking  dejected,  mustering  English  enough  to  say,  "  No, 
no,  mem  Sahib ! "  I  actually  had  to  occupy  one  of  the 
two  gateway  rooms,  an  inferior  stable,  without  the  smallest 
window  hole,  and  no  door  except  two  unconnected  boards 
with  which  one  could  cover  a  part  of  the  doorway.  Even 
when  these  were  not  put  up  a  candle  was  necessary.  It 
was  freezing  hard,  but  one  could  not  have  a  fire  because 
there  was  no  smoke-hole.  The  walls  were  slimily  and 
inkily  black  from  the  smoke  of  the  fires  of  people  who 
were  less  particular  than  I  am.  The  dust  and  rubbish 
of  the  floor  were  swept  into  one  corner.  If  one  wanted 


234  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xi 

a  place  to  store  boxes  in,  and  looked  into  that  room,  one 
would  exclaim  dubiously, "  Well,  it  might  do  for  glass  and 
china!" 

Mahboud  put  a  rug  on  the  floor  and  brought  a  bowl 
of  delicious  milk,  and  with  an  inverted  saddle  for  a  pillow 
I  rested  quite  comfortably,  being  too  tired  to  be  impatient, 
till  Mirza  Yusuf  arrived  with  my  luxuries,  and  the  news 
that  the  caravan  could  not  get  in  for  another  hour,  for 
that  several  of  the  mules  had  fallen  and  the  loads  were 
slipping  round  constantly.  Indeed  it  was  ten  before  I 
had  dinner.  It  is  very  fortunate  to  have  an  attendant 
always  cheerful,  never  fussy,  caring  nothing  for  personal 
comfort,  and  always  ready  to  interpret. 

The  ketchuda  called  with  the  usual  proffer  of  service, 
"  I  am  your  sacrifice,"  etc.,  and  induced  me  to  buy  some 
of  the  specialties  of  Kuhrud,  rose-water  in  bottles  without 
corks,  and  a  paste  made  of  rose-water,  pounded  walnuts, 
and  sugar.  The  rose-water  is  not  very  clear,  but  it  has 
much  of  the  overpowering,  lingering  odour  of  attar  of  roses. 

Kuhrud  seems  prosperous.  Besides  exporting  large 
quantities  of  rose-water  and  walnut  paste  formed  into 
blocks  and  done  up  in  white  skins,  it  sends  wheat  and 
fruit  in  abundance  to  Kashau. 

Freedom,  good  sleep,  and  satisfactory  travelling  make 
up  for  all  annoyances  but  vermin,  and  these  are  still 
hybernating.  In  that  precarious  privacy  I  slept  soundly, 
and  got  the  caravan  off  at  eight  the  next  morning — a 
glorious  winter  morning,  the  icy  roads  and  the  snow- 
covered  valley  glittering  with  frost  crystals.  We  lost 
the  way  again  among  the  pretty  orchards,  then  got  into 
a  valley  between  high  mud  mountains,  whose  shapeless- 
ness  is  now  judiciously  concealed  by  snow  from  one  to 
three  feet  deep,  through  which  a  track  has  been  broken 
a  foot  wide.  It  is  six  miles  from  Kuhrud  to  the  summit 
of  the  Kuhrud  Pass,  which  is  over  8000  feet,  and  it  grew 


LETTER  xi  A  "BLIZZARD"  235 

very  cold  and  gray,  and  ragged  masses  of  cloud  swept 
angrily  round  the  mountain-tops. 

On  the  steepest  part  of  the  ascent  it  was  extremely 
slippery,  and  the  horses  not  being  roughed  slipped  badly, 
and  I  was  just  fearing  an  accident  to  my  borrowed  horse 
and  planning  some  method  of  dismounting  when  down  he 
came  on  his  nose  and  then  on  the  side  of  his  head,  and 
fell  several  times  again  in  his  struggles  to  get  up,  his  feet 
slipping  from  under  him.  When  he  did  succeed  in 
getting  on  his  legs  I  was  convinced  that  he  had  cut  his 
knees,  and  slipped  off  him  somehow  to  examine  them  ;  but 
my  fears  were  groundless,  and  I  had  great  difficulty  in 
getting  out  of  the  drift  into  which  I  had  descended,  which 
was  nearly  up  to  my  shoulders.  His  nose  was  bleeding 
a  little,  but  that  was  all. 

There  was  no  way  of  remounting  on  a  path  a  foot 
wide  between  walls  of  snow,  and  besides  I  was  afraid 
of  another  accident,  so  I  slipped  the  snaffle  rein  over 
his  head  and  led  him.  It  was  horribly  slippery,  and 
having  nails  in  my  boots  I  fell  several  times  just  under 
his  feet,  but  the  sweet  creature  always  stopped  when 
I  fell. 

From  the  top  there  was  a  truly  fearful  view  of 
"  blackness,  darkness,  and  tempest,"  inky  mists,  white 
mountain -tops  showing  momentarily  through  them  to 
be  lost  again,  and  great  sheets  of  very  deep  snow.  Soon 
the  gathering  storm  burst,  a  "  blizzard "  in  which  the 
snow  was  quite  blinding,  snow  drifting  and  hissing  as  it 
went  by,  the  wind  tempestuous,  mountains,  valleys,  path 
obliterated,  even  the  soldier  in  front  of  me  constantly 
lost  to  sight.  An  hour  of  this  and  I  could  walk  no 
more,  and  somehow  scrambled  into  the  saddle. 

At  the  foot  of  the  descent  the  sky  cleared,  the  sun 
shone,  and  we  picked  up  the  caravan,  which  had  had 
rather  a  hard  time.  The  succeeding  route  was  through 


236  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xr 

an  absolutely  uninhabited  and  uninhabitable  country, 
clay  and  mud  hills,  purple,  red,  gray,  pink,  brown,  an 
utter  desolation,  till  we  came  in  sight  of  the  good-sized 
and  at  a  distance  imposing-looking  village  of  Sob  in  a 
keen  wind  with  frequent  snow  showers.  Sob  is  a 
telegraph  testing  station. 

The  electrician  was  absent,  but  had  kindly  left 
directions  that  I  was  to  be  received,  and  I  found  a  most 
comfortable  guest-room  quite  ready.  A  little  later  an 
Englishman  riding  chapar  to  Isfahan  threw  a  packet  of 
English  letters  in  at  my  door — a  delightful  surprise, 
which  made  havoc  of  the  rest  of  the  evening. 

The  desolation  of  this  part  of  the  route  may  be 
judged  of  from  the  fact  that  except  the  village  of  Kuhrud 
there  is  not  an  inhabited  house  for  forty-six  miles.  The 
country  traversed  reminds  me  much  of  the  least  inter- 
esting part  of  the  route  from  Lesser  Tibet  into  Kulu. 

Yesterday  morning  there  was  ice,  and  the  roads  were 
very  slippery  on  the  gradual  descent  from  the  plain 
which  opens  out  after  passing  Bideshk,  the  chapar  station, 
an  hour  from  Soh.  The  twenty -four  miles'  ride  over 
this  gravelly  waste,  quite  uninhabited,  was  very  pleasant, 
as  it  was  possible  to  gallop  much  of  the  way,  and  be- 
sides the  beauty  of  the  atmospheric  colouring  the  mirage 
occurring  in  most  remarkable  forms  rendered  monotony 
impossible. 

There  were  no  caravans  on  the  road,  but  I  met 
several  dervishes,  and  there  is  one  here  to  whom  I  have 
given  what  he  demanded — a  night's  lodging.  He  carries 
a  large  carved  almsholder ;  and  the  panther  skin  on  his 
shoulders,  the  knotted  club,  and  his  lean,  hungry,  fanatical 
face  give  him  a  dangerous  look.  All  I  have  seen  on 
this  march  have  worn  long  matted  bushy  hair,  often 
covering  their  shoulders,  an  axe  in  the  girdle,  and 
peculiar  turbans  decorated  with  phrases  from  the  Koran. 


LETTER  XI 


PERSIAN  DERVISHES 


237 


They  are  the  "  mendicant  friars  "  of  Persia,  and  are  under 
vows  of  poverty.  Some  are  said  to  be  learned ;  but  they 
object  to  discussing  religious  matters  with  infidels,  and 
almost  nothing  is  known  as 
to  their  beliefs.  They  hold 
universally  the  sanctity  of 
idleness,  and  the  duty  of 
being  supported  by  the 
community.  The  lower 
classes  hold  them  in  rever- 
ence, and  the  upper,  though 
they  are  apt  to  loathe  them, 
treat  them  with  great  re- 
spect, for  fear  of  laying 
themselves  open  to  the 
charge  of  laxity  in  religious 
matters. 

Many  of  them  deal  in 
charms,  and  are  consulted 
as  astrologers.  Some  are 
professed  tellers  of  stories, 
to  which  I  am  told  no 
European  could  degrade 
himself  by  listening,  but 
which  are  most  palatable 
to  a  village  audience ; 
and  at  this  moment  this  unwelcome  guest  of  mine  has 
a  crowd  listening  to  a  narrative  partly  told  and  partly 
acted. 

They  are  credited  with  many  vices,  among  the  least 
of  which  are  hazy  ideas  as  to  mine  and  thine,  opium  and 
bhang  smoking  to  excess,  and  drunkenness. 

They  have  recognised  heads  or  chiefs,  to  whom  they 
show  great  deference.  One  of  their  vows  is  that  of 
obedience ;  and  besides  paying  to  the  chief  a  part  of  the 


*  *'  ('i  uT*^ 


A   DERVISH. 


238  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xi 

alms  they  receive,  he  gives  them  orders  as  to  the  houses 
they  are  to  infest,  and  though  the  nuisance  is  not  so 
common  as  formerly,  a  dervish  at  the  door  is  still  a  sign 
of  being  great  or  rich,  or  both.  Their  cries,  and  their 
rude  blasts  on  the  buffalo  horn,  which  is  a  usual  part 
of  their  equipment,  are  most  obnoxious.  In  the  larger 
towns,  such  as  K urn  and  Kirmanshah,  there  are  shops  for 
the  sale  of  their  outfit — the  tiger  and  panther  skins,  the 
axes,  the  knotted  clubs,  the  almsbowls,  etc. 

Some  are  respectable,  and  enjoy  much  consideration, 
and  I  hope  that  many  even  of  those  whom  a  careful 
writer  has  called  "  disgusting  vagabonds  "  are  not  hum- 
bugs ;  but  the  presumption  is  so  much  the  other  way 
that  I  am  always  glad  when  the  ground  admits  of 
galloping  past  them,  otherwise  the  dervish  comes  forward, 
with  his  knotted  club  much  en  Evidence,  with  many 
compliments  and  good  wishes,  or  else  silently  extends  his 
almsholder,  ejaculating  link  ("  my  right ").  I  usually 
have  the  means  of  appeasing,  if  not  of  satisfying  him, 
but  on  the  rare  occasions  when  I  have  had  no  money 
the  yells  and  maledictions  have  been  awful 

The  light  and  profane  use  of  the  Divine  name  is 
universal.  The  dervishes  curse,  but  every  one  uses  the 
name  Allah  wherever  they  can  bring  it  in.  The  Ya 
Allah,  as  an  expression  of  fatigue,  or  discontent,  or 
interest,  or  nothing,  is  heard  all  day,  and  the  boy  who 
drives  a  cow,  or  a  team,  or  a  mule  in  a  caravan,  cries  Ya 
Allah  incessantly  as  an  equivalent  of  "go  along,"  and  the 
gardener  pushing  his  spade  into  the  ground,  the  chopper 
with  every  blow  of  the  axe,  the  labourer  throwing  up 
bricks,  ejaculates  the  same.  Mashallah,  Inshallah,  inter- 
lard all  conversation.  When  men  are  building,  the 
perpetual  sing-song  of  phrases  such  as  these  is  heard, 
"  Brother,  in  God's  name  toss  me  a  brick,"  the  other 
replying,  "  Brother,  in  God's  name  here  is  a  brick.' 


LETTER  xi  CHOICE  PHRASEOLOGY  239 

The  vocabulary  of  abuse  is  also  very  large,  and  often 
involves  serious  reflections  on  the  female  relatives  of  the 
person  abused.  I  hear  such  harmless  phrases  as  "  son 
of  a  burnt  father,"  rt  son  of  a  dog,"  "  offspring  of  a  pig," 
etc.,  on  all  occasions. 

Murcheh  Khurt  is  a  large  village  with  a  good  deal 
of  cultivation  about  it,  a  mosque  or  more,  a  hammam, 
a  chapar  khana,  and  a  caravanserai.  Here  again  I 
found  that  the  smart  foreign  soldier  attracted  all  the 
notice,  and  that  before  the  people  ceased  to  wonder  at 
him  I  had  passed  them.  The  chapar  khana  was  full 
of  men,  so  I  have  had  to  sink  to  the  level  of  a  recessed 
den  with  a  manger  in  front  in  a  ruinous  caravanserai 
crowded  with  Persian  travellers,  muleteers,  mules,  horses, 
and  asses,  and  the  courtyard  half-choked  with  ruins.  I 
had  not  seen  the  inside  of  one  of  these  dens  before. 
Travellers  have  exhausted  the  vocabulary  of  abuse  upon 
them  ;  possibly  they  deserve  it  in  the  "  vermin  season  "  ; 
but  there  is  nothing  worse  than  a  square  and  perfectly 
dark  room,  with  unplastered  walls  blackened  by  the  smoke 
and  cobwebs  of  ages,  and  a  door  which  will  not  fasten. 

The  air  is  cool  and  the  sky  blue,  and  sitting  at  the 
open  door  is  very  pleasant.  Mahboud  and  two  of  the 
servants  caught  cold  at  Kulirud  and  are  ill,  and  my  Arab 
has  a  chill  too.  He  is  a  very  stupid  horse.  His  gentle 
eyes  never  change  their  expression,  and  his  small  ears 
rarely  move.  He  has  little  sense  or  affection,  but  when 
he  is  patted  his  proud  neck  takes  on  a  loftier  arch. 
Gentle  as  he  is  to  people  he  is  a  brute  to  other  horses. 
He  would  like  to  fight  every  one  of  them,  to  stand  on  his 
hind-legs  and  grapple  them  round  the  shoulders  with  his 
fore-feet  and  bite  their  necks,  roaring  and  squealing  all  the 
time.  He  and  Mahboud's  horse  are  inveterate  enemies, 
and  one  of  .the  few  difficulties  of  the  journey  is  the  keep- 
ing them  from  a  regular  stand-up  fight. 


240  JOri:M-:v>   IN   I'Klisi.v  LETTER  xi 


This  villiim-  \a  an  oasis  in  the  desert  I  have  been 
through  its  gates,  barely  wide  enough  to  admit  an  ass 
loaded  with  brushwood,  with  the  straidar  and  Mirza, 
walked  through  its  narrow  alleys,  and  inadvertently 
stumbled  into  a  mosque  where  a  great  crowd  of  woim-n 
were  listening  to  a  story  of  one  of  the  twehv  Imams 
told  by  a  mollah,  looked  down  upon  it  and  over  the 
adjacent  country  from  a  house  roof,  visited  several  houses, 
in  which  some  of  the  inmates  were  ill  and  desired  "Feringhi 
medicine,"  had  a  long  conversation  with  the  ketchuda,  who 
came  to  see  me  to  ask  for  eye  lotion,  and  with  the  scr- 
aidar,  and  altogether  have  had  quite  a  pleasant  day. 

Chapar  Khana,  Gcz,  —  I  am  sitting  in  one  of  the  tliree 
doorless  doorways  of  my  loft,  grieving  that  the  journey 
is  just  over,  and  that  this  is  the  last  night  of  the  exhilar- 
ating freedom  of  the  desert.  I  rode  twenty-four  miles 
before  one  o'clock  to-day,  over  a  level  uncultivated  plain, 
bordered  as  usual  by  ranges  of  mountains.  In  fact,  while 
I  write  of  levels  and  plains  it  must  be  understood  that 
Persia  is  chiefly  a  land  of  hills  rising  from  a  table- 
land from  3400  feet  to  6000  feet  in  altitude,  and  that  the 
traveller  is  rarely,  if  ever,  more  than  fourteen  or  fifteen 
miles  from  mountains  from  2000  to  6000  feet  above 
the  plain  from  which  they  rise,  crowned  by  Demavend, 
whose  imposing  summit  is  18,600  feet  above  the  sea.  The 
hills  beyond  Isfahan  have  assumed  lofty  proportions,  and 
some  of  the  snowy  mountains  of  Luristan  are  to  be  seen 
in  the  far  distance. 

It  is  nearly  an  unmitigated  waste  between  Murcheh 
Khurt  and  Gez,  destitute  even  of  tufts  of  wormwood  ;  but 
the  latter  part  of  the  march  is  through  a  stoneless  alluvial  . 
desert  of  dry  friable  soil,  soft  springy  galloping  ground 
which  water  would  turn  into  a  paradise  of  fertility  ;  and 
water  there  has  once  been,  for  not  far  from  ttye  road  are 
the  remains  of  some  kanaats. 


LETTER  xi  KAN  A  ATS  241 

The  questions  naturally  arise  in  a  traveller's  mind,  first, 
what  becomes  of  the  enormous  amount  of  snow  which 
falls  on  the  mountains ;  and  next,  how  in  a  country  so  arid 
as  the  plateaus  of  Central  Asia  water  for  irrigation,  and 
for  the  basins  and  fountains  which  abound  in  rich  men's 
houses,  is  obtained. 

Wells,  unless  the  artesian  borings  shortly  to  be  begun 
in  the  Tihran  desert  should  be  successful,  are  all  but 
unknown,  except  for  supplying  drinking  water,  and  there 
are  scarcely  any  reservoirs,  but  ingenuity  has  devised  a 
plan  of  subterranean  water-channels,  which  besides  their 
other  advantages  prevent  loss  by  evaporation.  Tihran 
has  thirty-five  of  them,  and  the  water  which  they  dis- 
tribute is  naturally  expensive,  as  the  cost  of  making  them 
is  great 

It  is  on  the  slope  of  a  hill  that  the  spring  is  found 
which  is  the  original  source  of  supply ;  this  is  tapped  at 
some  depth,  and  its  waters  are  led  along  a  tunnel  about 
four  feet  high  by  two  feet  wide  lined  with  baked  pottery 
where  the  ground  is  soft,  and  having  a  slight  fall  to 
the  next  spring  or  well,  which  may  be  from  twenty-five 
to  even  sixty  yards  off. 

As  the  labourers  dig  they  draw  up  the  earth  and 
arrange  it  in  a  circle  round  the  shaft,  and  as  they  come 
to  water  they  draw  up  the  mud  and  pour  it  on  the  top 
of  the  earth,  where  it  dries  and  hardens,  and  below,  the 
water  is  conducted  as  a  running  underground  stream 
across  great  plains,  its  progress  marked  by  mounds  which 
have  been  compared  to  ant-hills  and  craters,  but  to  my 
thinking  are  more  like  the  shafts  of  disused  mines. 

Hundreds  of  these  kanaats  are  seen,  ruined  and  dry, 
and  are  the  resort  of  porcupines  and  jackals.  To  con- 
struct a  kanaat  may  call  a  village  or  series  of  villages 
into  being.  The  letting  it  fall  to  ruin  is  one  cause  of 
deserted  villages.  Those  which  are  not  lined  require 
VOL.  I  B 


242  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xi 

annual  repairs,  which  are  now  going  on,  but  frequently 
the  complete  fall  of  the  roof  destroys  the  fall  of  the 
water,  and  the  tunnel  becomes  irreparable. 

The  peasants  are  obliged  to  buy  the  water,  for  they 
cannot  steal  it,  and  the  making  of  a  Icfmaat  is  often  a 
lucrative  speculation.  Pigeons  live  in  them,  and  many 
of  them  are  full  of  fish,  which  foreigners  amuse  themselves 
by  poisoning  by  throwing  a  mixture  of  cocculus  indicus 
with  dough  down  the  wells,  when  the  poisoned  but 
wholesome  fish  rise  to  the  surface.  They  usually  recover 
when  they  are  left  in  the  water.  Dr.  Wills  describes  them 
as  having  a  muddy  taste.  The  kanaats  are  a  feature  of 
Persia. 

Ever  since  leaving  Kum  all  the  dry  and  hard  parts  of 
the  road  have  been  covered  with  the  industrious  "  road 
beetle,"  which  works,  like  the  ant,  in  concert,  and  carries 
on  its  activities  at  all  seasons,  removing  from  the  road  to 
its  nest  all  the  excreta  of  animals,  except  in  regions 
where  even  animal  fuel  is  so  exceptionally  scarce  that 
boys  with  asses  and  ponies  follow  caravans  for  the  same 
purpose.  These  beetles  hover  over  the  road  on  the  wing, 
and  on  alighting  proceed  to  roll  the  ball  towards  the  nest, 
four  or  five  of  them  standing  on  their  hind -legs  and 
working  it  forwards,  or  else  rolling  it  with  their  heads 
close  to  the  ground.  Their  instinct  is  wonderful,  and 
they  attract  the  attention  of  all  travellers.  They  are 
about  the  size  of  a  small  walnut.  Otherwise  there  is 
little  of  animated  life  to  be  seen  on  this  route. 

No  day  has  had  fewer  noticeable  objects.  Two  or 
three  dbambars,  several  caravanserais  in  absolute  ruins, 
and  a  magnificent  one  in  partial  ruins  are  its  record. 

Gez  consists  of  this  post-house  and  a  decaying 
caravanserai.  From  the  roof  as  I  write  I  watch  the 
grooming  of  a  whole  row  of  chapar  horses.  As  each  pad 
is  removed  there  is  a  horrid  revelation  of  wounds,  deep 


LETTER  xi  CHAPAR  HORSES  243 

ulcers,  sores  often  a  foot  long,  and  in  some  cases  the 
white  vertebrae  of  the  spine  are  exposed.  These  are  the 
wretched  animals  which  often  carry  men  who  ride  from 
fourteen  to  seventeen  stone  fifty  miles  in  a  day.  It  is 
hard  enough  even  with  extreme  carefulness  to  keep  the 
back  of  a  horse  all  right  on  a  continuous  journey,  but  I 
never  before  saw  animals  ridden  in  such  a  state.  They 
wince  pitifully  when  their  pads  are  put  on  again. 

The  desert  is  all  around,  purpling  in  the  sunset,  sweep- 
ing up  to  low  broken  ridges,  and  to  some  higher  hills  in 
the  north-west  covered  with  new-fallen  snow.  That  the 
waste  only  requires  water  to  make  it  prolific  is  apparent, 
for  below  these  walls  wheat  is  growing  luxuriantly  in 
some  deep  pits,  irrigated  from  a  dirty  ditch  out  of  which 
the  drinking  water  comes.  Nothing  can  be  got,  except 
by  sending  to  a  village  a  mile  away. 

Four  of  the  men  are  ill,  one  with  inflammation  of  the 
eyes,  another  with  an  abscess,  and  a  third,  a  very  strong 
man,  with  something  like  bilious  fever,  and  a  charvadar 
with  malarial  fever.  The  strong  man's  moans  often 
become  howls.  He  insists  that  he  shall  die  to-night, 
These  two  afternoons  have  been  much  taken  up  with 
making  poultices  and  medicines,  and  I  shall  be  glad  for 
the  poor  fellows  to  reach  Isfahan  and  the  care  of  a 
competent  doctor. 

Julfa,  April  2. — I  daresay  this  journey  seems  longer 
to  you  than  it  did  to  me.  It  was  very  pleasant,  and  its 
goal  is  pleasant,  and  a  most  kind  welcome  and  the 
refinement  of  cultured  English  people  go  far  to  compen- 
sate for  the  loss  of  the  desert  freedom  and  the  easy 
stride  of  the  Arab  horse. 

I  started  the  caravan  at  nine  yesterday,  with  two 
men  with  bandaged  eyes,  and  other  two  hardly  able  to 
sit  on  their  mules  ;  Mahboud,  who  is  really  more  seriously 
ill  than  any  of  them,  keeping  up  his  pluck  and  capable- 


244  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LITTER  xi 

ness  to  the  last     The  man  who  threatened  to  die  at 
Gez  was  very  much  better  the  next  morning. 

Soon  after  leaving  Gez  the  country  changes  its  aspect, 
the  road  becomes  very  bad,  and  passes  through  nine  miles 
of  rich  cultivation — wheat,  barley,  opium,  and  vegetables 
growing  abundantly ;  orchards  are  numerous,  villages  with 
trees  and  gardens  succeed  each  other  rapidly,  water 
abounds,  and  before  the  gate  of  Isfahan  is  reached, 
domes  and  minarets  rising  among  cypresses,  planes,  and 
poplars  indicate  the  remains  of  the  former  capital  of 
Persia. 

Inside  the  shabby  gateway  the  road  to  Julfa  lies 
among  rows  of  mean  mud  houses,  heaps  of  ruins,  and 
shabby  provision  bazars  ;  and  that  mile  or  more  of  Isfahan 
was  the  one  disagreeable  part  of  the  journey. 

It  was  about  the  last  day  of  the  holidays,  and  the 
bazars,  alleys,  and  open  spaces  were  full  of  men  in  gay 
attire,  and  companies  of  shrouded  women  were  moving 
along  the  quieter  roads.  It  was  too  warm  for  the  sheep- 
skin coat  which  had  served  me  so  well  at  Kum,  and  I 
had  dressed  with  some  regard  to  European  sensibilities. 
The  boys  began  to  shout  "  A  Feringhi  woman!  a  Nazarene 
woman ! "  and  then  to  call  bad  names ;  then  men  began 
to  make  up  fiendish  laughs,1  and  the  howls  and  outcries 
gathered  strength  as  I  went  on  at  the  inevitable  foot's 
pace,  spitting  being  quite  common,  poor  Mahboud  con- 
stantly turning  to  me  a  perturbed  wretched  face,  full 
of  annoyance  at  the  insults  of  his  co-religionists,  which 
it  would  have  been  dangerous  to  resent.  It  was  a  bad 
half- hour. 

1  I  can  imagine  now  what  a  hellish  laugh  that  was  with  which  "  they 
laughed  Him  to  scorn." 

I  was  a  month  in  Julfa,  but  never  saw  anything  more  of  Isfahan,  which 
is  such  a  fanatical  city  that  I  believe  even  so  lately  as  last  year  none  of 
the  ladies  of  the  European  community  had  visited  it,  except  one  or  two 
disguised  as  Persian  women. 


LETTER  xi  THE  LANES  OF  JULFA  245 

Before  passing  the  residence  of  the  Amir-i-Panj  (the 
commander  of  5000)  near  the  Julfa  gate  the  uproar 
died  away,  and  once  through  the  gate  ttnd  in  the 
Chahar  Bagh  (four  gardens)  there  was  peace.  A  bad 
road  of  cobble  stones,  with  a  double  avenue  of  once 
magnificent  planes,  some  once  ornamental  tanks,  very 
high  walls,  pierced  by  storied  gates,  ornamented  with 
wild  designs  on  plaster  in  flaring  colours,  above  which 
a  blue  dome  is  a  conspicuous  object,  leads  to  a  handsome 
bridge  of  thirty-three  arches,  with  a  broad  level  road- 
way, and  corridors  for  foot  passengers  on  either  side,  over 
the  Zainderud,  then  came  fields  with  springing  wheat,  a 
few  houses,  a  narrow  alley,  and  two  or  three  miles  from 
Isfahan  the  gate  of  its  Armenian  suburb,  Julfa. 

At  once  on  crossing  the  bridge  there  was  a  change. 
Ruddy,  cheery -looking  unveiled  women  in  red  gowns, 
and  pure  white  chadars  completely  enveloping  their 
persons,  moved  freely  about,  and  the  men  wore  neither 
the  becoming  turban  nor  the  ominous  scowl  of  Islam. 
In  the  quaint  narrow  streets  were  churches  with 
open  vestibules,  through  which  pictures  of  the  thorn- 
crowned  Christ  and  of  sweet-faced  Madonnas  were  visible ; 
priests  in  black  robes  and  women  in  white  glided 
along  the  narrow  roads.  There  was  the  fresher,  purer 
air  of  Christianity,  however  debased  and  corrupted.  In 
the  low-browed  churches  divine  honours  are  paid  to  a 
crowned  and  risen  Christ,  and  the  white -robed  women 
have  been  baptized  into  His  name.  Never  again  will 
the  Julfa  alleys  be  so  peaceful  and  lovable  as  yesterday, 
when  they  offered  a  haven  from  the  howling  bigots  of 
Isfahan. 

Dr.  Bruce  has  not  returned  from  Baghdad,  but  Mrs. 
and  Miss  Bruce  welcomed  me  very  kindly,  and  I  am 
already  forgetting  my  unpleasant  reception.  I.  L.  B. 


246  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xn 


LETTER   XII 

JULFA,  April  17. 

MR.  GEORGE  CURZON  wrote  of  Julfa :  "  The  younger  Julfa 
is  a  place  wholly  destitute  of  superficial  attractions,  con- 
sisting as  it  does  of  a  labyrinth  of  narrow  alleys  closed 
by  doors  and  plentifully  perforated  with  open  sewers. 
Life  there  is  'cabined,  cribbed,  confined'  to  an  intoler- 
able degree,  and  it  is  a  relief  to  escape  from  its  squalid 
precincts." 

I  dare  not  write  thus  if  I  would !  It  is  now  the 
early  spring.  The  "  sewers "  are  clear  rapid  streams, 
margined  by  grass  and  dandelions,  and  shaded  by  ash 
trees  and  pollard  willows  in  their  first  flush  of  green. 
The  "  narrow  alleys  "  are  scrupulously  clean,  and  there  is 
neither  mud  nor  dust.  If  I  go  up  on  the  roof  I  see  a 
cultivated  oasis,  gardens  prolonged  indefinitely  concealing 
the  desert  which  lies  between  them  and  the  bold  moun- 
tain ranges  which  surround  this  lofty  and  breezy  plain. 
Every  breeze  is  laden  with  the  delicious  odour  of  the 
bean  blossom.  A  rapid  river  spanned  by  noble  bridges 
hurries  through  the  oasis  it  has  helped  to  create,  and  on 
its  other  side  the  domes  and  minarets  of  Isfahan  rise  out 
of  masses  of  fine  trees,  and  bridges  and  mosques,  minarets 
and  mountains,  are  all  seen  through  a  most  exquisite  pink 
mist,  for  hundreds  of  standard  peach  trees  are  in  full 
bloom,  and  look  where  one  may  everything  is  coideur  de 
rose. 


LETTER  xii  SOCIETY  IN  JULFA  247 

I  quite  admit  that  Julfa  consists  of  a  "  labyrinth  of 
alleys."  I  can  never  find  my  way  about  it.  One  alley 
with  its  shady  central  stream  (or  "  sewer "),  its  roughly 
paved  paths  on  either  side,  its  mud  walls  pierced  by  low 
doors,  is  very  much  like  another,  and  however  lucky  one 
may  be  in  "  happening  on  "  the  right  road,  it  is  always  a 
weary  time  before  one  escapes  from  between  mud  walls 
into  the  gardens  and  wheatfields,  to  the  blossoming  beans, 
and  the  exquisite  wild-flowers  among  the  wheat 

As  to  the  "cabined,  cribbed,  confined"  life,  I  can 
give  no  testimony  from  personal  knowledge.  All  life  in 
European  settlements  in  the  East  appears  to  me  "  cabined, 
cribbed,  confined,"  and  greatly  devoid  of  external  interests. 
Perhaps  Julfa  is  deficient  in  the  latter  in  an  eminent  degree, 
and  in  a  very  small  foreign  community  people  are  inter- 
ested chiefly  in  each  other's  affairs,  sayings,  and  doings. 
Lawn  tennis,  picnics,  and  dinner  parties  are  prevalent, 
the  ordinary  etiquette  of  European  society  prevails,  and 
in  all  cases  of  need  the  residents  are  kind  to  each  other 
both  in  life  and  death. 

The  European  society  is  divided  into  three  circles — 
the  missionaries,  the  mercantile  community,  and  the 
telegraph  staff.  The  British  agent,  Mr.  Aganoor,  is  an 
Armenian.1  No  Christians,  Armenian  or  European,  live 
in  Isfahan,  and  it  is  practically  dtfendu  to  European 
women.  This  transpontine  restriction  undoubtedly 
narrows  the  life  and  interests  of  Julfa.  It  is  aggravat- 
ing and  tantalising  to  be  for  ever  looking  at  a  city  of 
60,000  or  70,000  people,  the  fallen  capital  of  the  Sufari 
dynasty,  and  never  be  able  to  enter  it. 

This  Christian  town  of  Julfa  has  a  certain  accessible 

1  Since  my  visit  Mr.  Preece,  then,  and  for  many  previous  years,  the 
superintending  electrician  of  this  section  of  the  Indo-European  telegraph, 
has  been  appointed  Consul,  the  increasing  dimensions  of  English  interests 
and  the  increasing  number  of  resident  British  subjects  rendering  the 
creation  of  a  Consulate  at  Isfahan  a  very  desirable  step. 


248  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xu 

historic  interest  Shah  Abbas,  justly  surnamed  the  Great, 
conceived  the  sagacious  project  of  introducing  among  his 
Persian  subjects  at  Isfahan — then,  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  a  magnificent  capital — the  Christian 
habits  of  trading,  sagacity,  and  thrift,  for  then  as  now 
the  Armenians  had  commercial  dealings  with  China,  India, 
and  Europe,  and  had  imported  several  arts  into  Persia, 

This  project  he  carried  out  in  truly  despotic  fashion 
by  moving  almost  the  whole  population  of  Julfa  on  the 
Araxes,  on  the  modern  Eusso-  Persian  frontier,  to  the 
banks  of  the  Zainderud,  making  over  to  it  the  best  lands 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Isfahan.  Many  years  later  the 
new  Julfa  was  a  place  with  twenty -four  churches,  great 
prosperity,  and  an  estimated  population  of  40,000.  Its 
agriculturists  were  prosperous  market -gardeners  for  the 
huge  city  of  Isfahan,  and  it  had  likewise  a  great  trading 
community,  and  was  renowned  for  the  making  of  jewellery 
and  watches. 

It  has  now  a  dwindling  population  of  about  3000, 
chiefly  elderly  men,  women,  and  girls,  the  young  men, 
after  receiving  a  good  education  in  the  Church  Mission 
and  other  schools,  flying  from  its  stagnation  to  India, 
Java,  and  even  Europe.  The  twenty-four  churches  are 
reduced  to  twelve,  and  these  with  the  vast  cemetery  in 
the  desert  at  the  base  of  Kuh  Sufi  are  its  chief  objects  of 
interest,  apart  from  those  which  are  human  and  living. 

April  22. — The  peach  blossoms  have  long  since  fallen, 
but  perhaps  I  still  see  Julfa  couleur  de  rose,  even  after 
three  weeks,  so  very  great  is  the  kindness  under  this  roof, 
and  so  fully  is  my  time  occupied  with  various  interests, 
and  the  preparations  for  a  difficult  journey. 

This,  as  you  know,  is  the  Church  Mission  House. 
Dr.  Bruce  has  been  here  for  twenty  years,  and  until  lately, 
when  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury's  mission  to  the 
Assyrian  Christians  began  its  work  at  Unni,  near  the 


LETTER  Hi  THE  ENGLISH  MISSION  249 

Turkish  frontier  in  the  north-west,  this  was  the  only 
English  mission  in  the  Empire.  It  was  contemplated  as 
a  mission  to  the  Mohammedans,  but  in  this  respect 
has  been  an  apparent  failure.  It  is  true  that  much  pre- 
judice has  been  disarmed,  and,  as  I  have  heard  from 
some  leading  Mohammedans,  Dr.  Bruce's  zeal  and  good 
works  have  won  their  respect.  A  large  part  of  the  Bible 
has  been  translated  into  Persian  and  very  widely 
circulated  through  the  adjacent  country  by  means  of 
colporteurs  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  His 
preaching  of  Christianity  is  listened  to  respectfully,  and 
even  with  interest,  wherever  he  itiuerates,  and  Moslems 
daily  call  on  him,  and  show  much  friendliness,  but  the 
results,  as  results  are  usually  estimated,  are  nil — that  is, 
no  Mohammedans  openly  profess  Christianity. 

There  is  actual  though  not  legal  toleration,  but 
Moslem  children  may  not  attend  a  mission  school,  and 
a  Moslem  who  becomes  a  Christian  loses  his  means  of 
living,  and  probably  his  life  is  sacrificed  to  fanaticism. 

In  consequence  of  these  difficulties,  and  certain 
encouragements  in  another  direction,  the  ostensible  work 
of  the  mission  is  among  Armenians.  Dr.  Bruce  has  not 
been  afraid  of  incurring  the  stigma  of  being  a  proselytiser, 
and  has  a  large  congregation  of  Armenians  worshipping 
after  the  English  form,  ninety-four  being  communicants 
of  the  Church  of  England.  On  Easter  Eve  there  was  an 
evening  Communion,  and  the  great  row  of  women  kneel- 
ing at  the  rail  in  the  pure  white  robes  which  cover  them 
from  head  to  foot,  and  then  moving  back  to  their  places 
in  the  dim  light,  was  very  picturesque  and  beautiful. 

Good  works  have  been  added  one  after  another,  till 
the  mission  is  now  a  very  large  establishment.  The 
C.  M.  S.  has  been  liberal  to  this,  its  only  Persian  agency, 
and  Dr.  Bruce,  having  private  means,  has  generously 
expended  them  largely  on  missionary  work  in  Julfa. 


IM  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xn 

The  chief  features  of  the  compounds  are  the  church, 
which  is  both  simple  and  ecclesiastical  in  its  exterior  aud 
interior,  and  the  library  adjoining  it,  where  Dr.  Bruce  works 
at  the  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  into  Persian  and 
the  revision  of  the  New,  aided  by  a  munshi,  and  where 
through  much  of  the  day  he  is  receiving  Moslems,  some 
of  whom  come  to  inquire  into  Christianity,  others  for 
religious  disputations,  and  a  third  and  numerous  class  out 
of  mere  friendliness.  The  latter  are  generally  invited 
into  the  Mission  House,  and  are  regaled  with  coffee  and 
kalians,  in  orthodox  Persian  fashion.  Among  the  latter 
visitors  has  been  the  Amir-i-Panj,  who  came  to  ask  me 
to  call  on  his  wife,  accompanied  by  a  general  of  cavalry, 
whose  name  I  cannot  spell,  and  who  speaks  French  remark- 
ably well. 

Among  the  other  buildings  are  those  of  the  Medical 
Mission,  which  include  a  roomy  courtyard,  where  the 
animals  which  carry  the  patients  are  tethered,  rooms  for 
the  doctor,  a  well -arranged  dispensary  and  consulting- 
room,  with  waiting-rooms  for  both  sexes,  and  rooms  above 
in  which  serious  surgical  cases  are  received  for  treatment, 
and  where  at  present  there  are  eleven  patients,  although 
just  now  there  is  no  European  doctor,  and  they  are  being 
treated  by  the  native  assistants,  most  kindly  helped  by 
Dr.  Scully  of  the  telegraph  staff.  This  hospital  and 
dispensary  are  largely  taken  advantage  of  by  Moslems, 
who  highly  appreciate  this  form  of  Christian  benevolence. 

The  boys'  school,  with  205  pupils,  has  been  a  great 
benefit  to  Julfa.  The  head-master,  Mr.  Johannes,  was 
educated  in  England  and  was  formerly  a  master  of  the 
Nassik  School  in  India.  This  school  provides  the 
education  of  one  of  our  best  middle-class  schools,  and  the 
teaching  is  thorough.  Smattering  would  be  infinitely 
despised  by  teachers  and  pupils.  In  this  thorough  fashion 
Latin,  French,  the  first  four  books  of  Euclid,  and  algebra 


LETTER  xii  MISSIONARY  LUXURY  251 

are  taught  to  the  youngi  men  of  the  upper  form.  The 
boys  have  a  large  playground,  with  a  great  tank  for 
bathing,  and  some  of  the  equipments  of  a  gymnasium,  a 
vaulting  pole,  parallel  bars,  etc. 

The  girls'  schools,  containing  100  girls,  have  their  own 
courtyard,  and  they  need  enlarging,  though  the  process 
has  been  more  than  once  repeated.  Mrs.  Aidin,  an  Eng- 
lish teacher,  is  at  their  head,  and  exercises  that  strong 
influence  which  love  and  firmness  give.  The  girls  are  a 
mass  of  red,  a  cool  red,  without  yellow,  and  when  they 
disperse  they  enliven  the  Julfa  alleys  with  their  carna- 
tion dresses  and  pure  white  chadars.  The  education  is 
solid  and  suitable,  and  special  attention  is  given  to  needle- 
work. 

Besides  these  there  is  an  orphanage,  begun  for  the 
benefit  of  those  whose  parents  died  in  the  famine,  in 
which  are  twenty  boys.  Outside  are  many  other  works, 
a  Bible  House,  from  which  colporteurs  at  intervals  pro- 
ceed on  journeys,  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  or 
something  like  it,  etc.  etc. 

Now  as  to  the  Mission  House  itself,  which  has  to 
accommodate  Dr.,  Mrs.,  and  Miss  Bruce,  Mr.  Carless,  a 
clerical  missionary,  and  two  English  lady  missionaries. 
So  much  has  been  written  lately  about  the  "style  of 
living  "  of  missionaries,  their  large  houses,  and  somewhat 
unnecessary  comfort  in  general,  that  I  am  everywhere 
specially  interested  in  investigating  the  subject,  having 
formed  no  definite  opinion  on  the  question  whether  living 
as  natives  or  living  as  Europeans  is  the  more  likely  mode 
of  producing  a  salutary  impression. 

The  Mission  House  here  is  a  native  building,  its 
walls  and  ceilings  simply  decorated  with  pale  brown 
arabesques  on  a  white  ground.  There  are  a  bedroom  and 
parlour,  with  an  ante-room  between  giving  access  to  both 
from  the  courtyard,  a  storeroom,  and  a  kitchen.  Across 


252  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xu 

the  court  are  servants'  quarters  and  a  guest-room  for 
natives.  Above  these,  reached  by  an  outside  stair,  are  a 
good  room,  occupied  by  Mr.  Carless  as  study  and  bedroom, 
and  one  small  guest-room.  Another  stair  leads  to  two 
rooms  above  some  of  the  girls'  school  premises,  having 
enclosed  alcoves  used  as  sleeping  and  dressing  rooms. 
These  are  occupied  by  two  ladies.  One  room  serves  as 
eating-room  for  the  whole  mission  party,  at  present  six 
in  number,  and  as  drawing-room  and  workroom.  Books, 
a  harmonium,  Persian  rugs  on  the  floor,  and  just  enough 
furniture  for  use  constitute'  its  "  luxury." 

There  are  two  servants,  both  of  course  men,  and  all 
the  ladies  do  some  housework.  At  present  the  only 
horse  is  the  dispensary  horse,  a  beast  of  such  rough  and 
uneven  paces  that  it  is  a  penance  to  ride  him.  The 
food  is  abundant,  well  cooked,  and  very  simple. 

The  life,  all  round,  is  a  very  busy  one.  Visitors  are 
never  refused  at  any  hour.  The  long  flat  mud  roofs  from 
which  one  can  see  the  gardens  and  the  hills  are  used  for 
exercise,  otherwise  some  of  the  party  would  never  have 
anything  better  than  mud  walls  for  their  horizon,  and 
life  in  courtyards  is  rather  depressing  for  Europeans.  I 
have  told  facts,  and  make  no  comments,  and  it  must  be 

remembered  that  both  Dr.  Bruce  and  Miss  V a  lady 

of  rare  devotion  who  has  lately  arrived,1  are  to  a  certain 
extent  "  honorary "  missionaries,  and  have  the  means,  if 
they  had  the  desire,  of  surrounding  themselves  with 
comforts. 

This  is  about  the  twenty-third  mission  circle  with 
which  I  have  become  acquainted  during  the  last  eight 
months,  and  I  see  in  nearly  all  the  same  difficulties, 
many  of  them  of  a  nature  which  we  can  hardly  realise  at 
home. 

1  A  few  weeks  later  she  died,  her  life  sacrificed,  I  think,  to  over-study 
of  a  difficult  language,  and  the  neglect  of  fresh  air  and  exercise. 


LETTER  xii  FEMALE  MISSIONARIES  253 

Women  coming  to  the  East  as  missionaries  are  by  far 
the  greatest  sufferers,  especially  if  they  are  young,  for 
Eastern  custom,  which  in  their  position  cannot  be  defied 
with  advantage,  limits  free  action  and  abridges  all  the 
comforts  of  independence.  Thus  a  woman  cannot  take 
a  walk  or  a  ride  or  go  to  a  house  without  a  trusty 
man-servant  in  attendance  on  her,  and  this  is  often 
inconvenient,  so  she  does  not  go  out  at  all,  contenting 
herself  with  a  walk  on  the  roof  or  in  the  courtyard. 

The  wave  of  enthusiasm  on  which  a  lady  leaves  her 
own  country  soon  spends  its  force.  The  interest  which 
has  centred  round  her  for  weeks  or  even  months  is  left 
behind.  The  enthusiastic  addresses  and  farewell  meetings, 
•t  the  journey  "  up  the  country  "  with  its  excitement  and 
novelties,  and  the  cordial  welcome  from  the  mission  circle 
to  which  she  is  introduced,  soon  become  things  of  the 
past  The  circle,  however  kind,  has  its  own  interests  and 
work,  and  having  provided  her  with  a  munshi,  necessarily 
goes  on  its  own  way  more  or  less,  and  she  is  left  to  face 
the  fearful  difficulties  of  languages  with  which  ours  has 
no  affinity,  in  a  loneliness  which  is  all  the  more  severely 
felt  because  she  is  usually,  for  a  time  at  least,  one 
nominally  of  a  family  circle. 

Unless  she  is  a  doctor  or  nurse  she  can  do  nothing 
till  she  has  learned  the  language,  and  the  difficulty  of 
learning  is  increased  by  the  loss  of  the  flexible  mind  and 
retentive  memory  which  are  the  heritage  of  extreme  youth. 
The  temptation  is  to  "go  at  it"  violently.  Then  come  the 
aching  head,  the  loss  of  sleep,  the  general  lassitude  and 
nervousness,  and  the  self- questionings  as  to  whether  she 
was  right  in  leaving  her  fruitful  work  in  England. 

Then,  instead  of  realising  the  truth  of  the  phrases  used 
at  home — "  multitudes  flocking  as  the  doves  to  their  win- 
dows"— "fields  white  unto  the  harvest,"  etc. — she  finds 
that  the  work  instead  of  seeking  her  has  to  be  made  by 


JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xn 

her  most  laboriously,  and  oftentimes  the  glowing  hope 
of  telling  of  the  Redeemer's  love  and  death  to  throngs  of 
eager  and  receptive  listeners  is  fulfilled  in  the  drudgery 
of  teaching  sewing  and  the  rudiments  of  English  during 
the  first  year. 

It  is  just  this  first  year  under  which  many  women 
succumb.  Then  how  many  of  the  failings  and  weak- 
nesses of  the  larger  world  must  be  epitomised  in  a 
mission  group  exposed,  as  Mr.  Heyde  of  Kyelang  feel- 
ingly said,  "  to  the  lowering  influence  of  daily  contact 
with  a  courteous  and  non-repulsive  Heathenism  and 
Mohammedanism  " !  Missionaries  are  not  likely  to  possess, 
as  they  certainly  are  the  last  to  claim,  superior  sanctity, 
and  the  new-comer,  dreaming' of  a  circle  in  all  respects 
consecrated,  finds  herself  among  frictions,  strong  differ- 
ences as  to  methods  of  working,  not  always  gently  ex- 
pressed, and  possible  jealousies  and  criticisms,  and  an 
exaggeration  of  the  importance  of  trifles,  natural  where 
large  events  are  rare.  A  venerable  American  missionary  in 
Turkey  said,  "  Believe  me,  the  greatest  trial  of  mission- 
aries is  missionaries." 

The  small  group  is  frequently  destitute  of  social  re- 
sources outside  itself,  it  is  cut  off  from  friendly  visits, 
services,  lectures,  music,  new  books,  news,  and  the  many  re- 
creative influences  which  all  men  regard  as  innocent.  The 
life-work  seems  at  times  thrown  away,  the  heat,  the  flies, 
and  the  mosquitos  are  depressing  and  exhausting,  and  in 
the  case  of  young  women,  especially  till  they  can  use  the 
language  colloquially,  there  is  little  if  any  outside  move- 
ment. Is  it  wonderful  that  supposed  slights,  tiffs,  criti- 
cisms which  would  be  utterly  brushed  away  if  a  good 
walk  in  the  open  or  a  good  gallop  were  possible,  should 
be  brooded  over  till  they  attain  a  magnitude  which 
embitters  and  depresses  life  ? 

A  man   constantly  finds   the  first  year  or  two  very 


LETTER  xii  MISSIONARY  REQUISITES  255 

trying  till  he  has  his  tools — the  language — at  command, 
and  even  men  at  times  rub  each  other  the  wrong  way,  but 
a  man  can  take  a  good  walk  or  a  solitary  gallop,  or  better 
still,  a  week  of  itinerating  among  the  villages.  People 
speak  of  the  dangers  and  privations  of  missionary  life.  I 
think  that  these  are  singularly  over-estimated.  But  the 
trials  which  I  have  alluded  to,  and  which,  with  the  hot 
climates  and  insufficient  exercise,  undermine  the  health 
of  very  many  female  missionaries,  cannot  be  exaggerated, 
and  demand  our  deep  sympathy. 

I  do  not  think  that  the  ordinary  pious  woman,  the 
successful  and  patient  worker  in  district  visiting,  Bible 
classes,  mothers'  meetings,  etc.,  is  necessarily  suited  to  be 
a  foreign  missionary,  but  that  a  heart  which  is  a  well- 
spring  of  human  love,  and  a  natural  "  enthusiasm  of 
humanity "  are  required,  as  well  as  love  to  the  Master, 
the  last  permeating  and  sanctifying  the  others,  and  giving 

them  a  perennial  freshness.  Fancy  G.  G grumbling 

and  discontented  and  magnifying  unpropitious  trifles,  when 
her  heart  goes  out  to  every  Chinawoman  she  sees  in  a 
perfect  passion  of  love  ! l 

With  the  medical  missionary,  whether  man  or  woman, 
the  case  is  different.  The  work  seeks  the  worker  even 
before  he  is  ready  for  it,  claims  him,  pursues  him,  absorbs 
him,  and  he  is  powerful  to  heal  even  where  he  is  im- 
potent to  convert. 

1  These  sentences  were  written  nearly  a  year  ago,  but  many  subsequent 
visits  to  missions  have  only  confirmed  my  strong  view  of  the  very  trying 
nature  of  at  least  the  early  period  of  a  lady  missionary's  life  in  the  East, 
and  of  the  constant  failure  of  health  which  it  produces  ;  of  the  great 
necessity  there  is  for  mission  boards  to  lay  down  some  general  rules  of 
hygiene,  which  shall  include  the  duty  of  riding  on  horseback,  for  more 
rigorous  requirements  of  vigorous  physique  in  those  sent  out,  and  above, 
all,  that  the  natural  characteristics  of  those  who  are  chosen  to  be  "epistles 
of  Christ  "  in  the  East  shall  be  such  as  will  not  only  naturally  and  speci- 
ally commend  the  Gospel,  but  will  stand  the  wear  and  strain  of  difficult 
circumstances. 


256  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xii 

I  have  been  to  the  hospital  to  see  a  woman  from  the 
Kuhrud  mountains,  who  was  brought  here  to  undergo  an 
operation.  She  had  spent  all  her  living  on  native 
physicians  without  result,  and  her  husband  has  actually 
sold  his  house  to  get  money  to  give  his  wife  a  last  chance 
of  recovery.  Fifteen  years  ago  this  man  nearly  took  Dr. 
Bruce's  life.  Now,  he  says,  "  The  fruits  of  Christianity 
are  good." 

Daily  the  "  labyrinth  of  alleys  "  becomes  denser  with 
leafage,  and  the  sun  is  hot  enough  to  make  the  shade 
very  pleasant,  while  occasional  showers  keep  the  greenery 
fresh.  Indeed  it  is  warm  enough  in  my  room  to  make 
the  cool  draught  from  the  bddylr  very  pleasant  These 
wind-towers  are  a  feature  of  all  Persian  cities,  breaking 
the  monotony  of  the  flat  roofs. 

Letters  can  be  sent  once  a  week  from  Isfahan,  and 
there  is  another  opportunity  very  safe  and  much  taken 
advantage  of,  the  "  Telegraph  chapar,"  a  British  official 
messenger,  who  rides  up  and  down  between  Bush  ire  and 
Tihran  at  stated  intervals.  The  Persian  post  is  a 
wretched  institution,  partaking  of  the  general  corruption 
of  Persian  officialism,  and  nowhere,  unless  reyuttnd,  are 
letters  less  safe  than  in  Tihran.1  I  shall  send  this, 
scrappy  as  it  is,  as  I  may  not  be  here  for  another  week's 
mail  I.  L.  B. 

1  Nearly  all  my  non-registered  letters  to  England  failed  to  reach  their 
destination. 


LETTER  sin  JULFA  AMUSEMENTS  257 


LETTER    XIII 

JULFA,  April  29. 

EACH  day  has  been  completely  filled  up  since  I  wrote, 
and  tliis  is  probably  the  last  here.  My  dear  old  Cabul 
tent,  a  shuldari,  also  Indian,  and  a  servants'  tent  made 
i  here  on  a  plan  of  my  own,  are  pitched  in  one  of  the 
compounds  to  exercise  the  servants  in  the  art,  and  it 
really  looks  like  going  after  many  delays. 

A  few  festivities  have  broken  the  pleasant  monotony 
of  life  in  this  kindly  and  hospitable  house — dinner  parties, 
European  and  Armenian  ;  a  picnic  on  the  Kuh  Sufi,  from 
which  there  is  a  very  fine  panoramic  view  of  the  vast 
plain  and  its  surrounding  mountains,  and  of  the  immense 
ruins  of  Isfahan  and  Julfa,  with  the  shrunken  remains  of 
both  ;  and  a  "  church  picnic." 

From  Kuh  Sufi  is  seen  how  completely,  and  with  a 
sharp  line  of  definition,  the  arid  desert  bounds  the  green 
oasis  of  cultivated  and  irrigated  gardens  which  surround 
the  city,  and  which  are  famous  for  the  size  and  luscious- 
ness  of  their  fruit.  From  a  confusion  of  ruinous  or  ragged 
walls  of  mud,  of  ruined  and  modern  houses  standing  com- 
placently among  heaps  of  rubbish,  and  from  amidst  a 
greenery  which  redeems  the  scene,  the  blue  tiled  dome 
of  the  Masjid-i-Shah,  a  few  minarets,  and  the  great  dome 
of  the  Medresseh,  denuded  of  half  its  tiles,  rise  conspicu- 
ously. Long  lines  of  mud  streets  and  caravanserais, 
gaunt  in  their  ruin,  stretch  into  the  desert,  and  the 
VOL.  I  s 


858  JOURNKYS   IN   PERSIA  LETTER  x  HI 

city  once  boasting  of  650,000  inhabitants  and  a  splendid 
court  survives  with  a  population  of  less  than  80,000  at 
the  highest  estimate. 

The  "  church  picnic  "  was  held  in  a  scene  of  decay,  but 
260  people,  with  all  the  women  but  three  in  red,  enlivened 
it.  It  was  in  the  grounds  of  the  old  palace  of  Haft 
Dast,  in  which  Fatteh  AH  Shah  died,  close  to  one  of  the 
three  remarkable  bridges  of  Isfahan,  the  I'ul-i-Kaju. 
These  bridges  are  magnificent  Their  construction  is 
most  peculiar,  and  their  roadways  being  flat  they  are 
almost  unique  in  Persia, 

The  Pul-i-Kaju,  though  of  brick,  has  stone  piers  of  im- 
mense size,  which  are  arched  over  so  as  to  form  a  level 
causeway.  On  this  massive  structure  the  upper  bridge  is 
built,  comprising  a  double  series  of  rooms  at  each  pier 
\\  ith  doorways  overlooking  the  river,  and  there  are  stair- 
cases and  rooms  also  in  the  upper  piers. 

The  Chahar  Bagh  bridge  is  also  quaint  and  magnificent, 
with  its  thirty-three  arches,  some  of  them  very  large,  its 
corridors  for  foot  passengers,  and  chambers  above  each 
pier,  each  chamber  having  three  openings  to  the  river. 
These  bridges  have  a  many-storied  look,  from  their 
innumerable  windows  at  irregular  altitudes,  and  form  a 
grand  approach  to  the  city. 

As  at  first,  so  now  at  last  the  most  impressive  thing  to 
me  about  the  Zainderud  next  to  its  bridges  is  the  extent 
to  which  rinsing,  one  of  the  processes  of  dyeing,  is  carried 
on  upon  its  shingle  flats.  Isfahan  dyed  fabrics  are  famous 
and  beautiful,  heavy  cottons  of  village  make  and  un- 
bleached cottons  of  Manchester  make  being  brought  here 
to  be  dyed  and  printed. 

There  is  quite  a  population  of  dyers,  and  now  that 
the  river  is  fairly  low,  many  of  them  have  camped  for 
the  season  in  little  shelters  of  brushwood  erected  on  the 
gravel  banks.  For  fully  half -a- mile  these  banks  are 


LETTER  xin  ISFAHAN  DYERS  259 

covered  with  the  rinsers  of  dyed  and  printed  calicoes, 
and  with  mighty  heaps  of  their  cottons.  Hundreds  of 
pieces  after  the  rinsing  are  laid  closely  together  to  dry, 
indigo  and  turquoise  blue,  brown  and  purple  madder, 
Turkey  red  and  saffron  predominating,  a  vile  aniline 
colour  showing  itself  here  and  there.  Some  of  the 
smaller  dyers  have  their  colour  vats  by  the  river,  but 
most  of  the  cotton  is  brought  from  Isfahan,  ready  dyed, 
on  donkeys'  backs,  with  the  rinsers  in  attendance. 

Along  the  channels  among  the  shingle  banks  are  rows 
of  old  millstones,  and  during  much  of  the  day  a  rinser 
stands  in  front  of  each  up  to  his  knees  in  water.  His 
methods  are  rough,  and  the  cotton  must  be  good  which 
•tends  his  treatment.  Taking  in  his  hands  a  piece  of 
soaked  half-wrung  cotton,  from  fifteen  to  twenty  yards  long, 
he  folds  it  into  five  feet  and  bangs  it  on  the  millstone 
with  all  his  might,  roaring  a  tuneless  song  all  the  time, 
till  he  fails  from  fatigue.  The  noise  is  tremendous,  and 
there  will  be  more  yet,  for  the  river  is  not  nearly  at  its 
lowest  point.  When  the  piece  has  had  the  water  beaten 
out  of  it  a  boy  spreads  it  out  on  the  gravel,  and  keeps  it  wet 
by  dashing  water  over  it,  and  then  the  process  of  beating 
is  repeated.  The  coloured  spray  rising  from  each  mill- 
stone in  the  bright  sunshine  is  very  pretty.  Each  rinser 
has  his  watchdog  to  guard  the  cottons  on  the  bank,  and 
between  the  banging,  splashing,  and  singing,  the  barking 
of  the  dogs  and  the  shouts  of  the  hoys,  it  is  a  noisy 
and  cheery  scene. 

I  have  heard  that  certain  unscrupulous  English 
makers  were  in  the  habit  of  sending  "loaded"  cottons 
here,  but  that  the  calico  printers  have  been  a  match  for 
them,  for  the  calico  printer  weighs  his  cloth  before  he 
buys  it,  washes  and  dries  it,  and  then  weighs  it  again. 
A  man  must  "  get  up  very  early  "  if  he  means  to  cheat  a 
Persian. 


260  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  XHI 

The  patterns  and  colours  are  beautiful.  Quilts,  "  table- 
cloths "  (for  use  on  the  floor),  and  chadars  are  often  things 
of  exquisite  beauty.  Indeed  I  have  yielded  to  temptation, 
and  to  gratify  my  own  tastes  have  bought  some  beautiful 
"table-cloths"  for  Bakhtiari  women,  printed  chiefly  in 
indigo  and  brown  madder  on  a  white  ground. 

The  temptations  are  great  I  really  need  many 
things  both  for  my  own  outfit  and  for  presents  to  the 
Bakhtiaris,  and  pedlars  come  every  day  and  unpack  their 
tempting  bundles  in  the  small  verandah.  No  Europeans 
and  no  women  of  the  upper  classes  can  enjoy  the  delights 
of  shopping  in  Persia,  consequently  the  pedlar  is  a 
necessary  institution. 

Here  they  are  of  the  humbler  sort.  They  have 
learned  that  it  is  useless  to  display  rich  Turkestan  and 
Feraghan  carpets,  gold  and  silver  jewellery,  inlaid  arms, 
stuffs  worked  with  gold  thread,  or  any  of  the  things 
which  tempt  the  travelling  Feringhi,  so  they  bring  all 
sorts  of  common  fabrics,  printed  cambrics,  worthless 
woollen  stuffs,  and  the  stout  piece  cottons  and  ex- 
quisitely-printed cotton  squares  of  Isfahan. 

At  almost  any  hour  of  the  day  a  salaaming  creature 
squatting  at  the  door  is  seen,  caressing  a  big  bundle, 
which  on  seeing  you  he  pats  in  a  deprecating  manner, 
looks  up  appealingly,  declares  that  he  is  your  "  sacrifice," 
and  that  with  great  trouble  and  loss  he  has  got  just 
the  thing  the  khanum  wants.  If  you  hesitate  for  one 
moment  the  bundle  is  opened,  and  on  his  first  visit  he 
invariably  shows  flaring  Manchester  cottons  first ;  but  if 
you  look  and  profess  disgust,  he  produces  cottons  printed 
here,  strokes  them  lovingly,  and  asks  double  their  value 
for  them.  You  offer  something  about  half.  He  recedes 
and  you  advance  till  a  compromise  is  arrived  at  represent- 
ing the  fair  price. 

But  occasionally,  as  about  a  table-cloth,  if  they  see 


LBTTER  xin  A  VISIT  IN  ISFAHAN  261 

that  you  admire  it  very  much  but  will  not  give  the  price 
asked,  they  swear  by  Allah  that  they  will  not  abate  a 
fraction,  pack  up  their  bundle,  and  move  off  in  well- 
simulated  indignation,  probably  to  return  the  next  day 
to  offer  the  article  on  your  own  terms.  Mrs.  Bruce  has 
done  the  bargaining,  and  I  have  been  only  an  amused 
looker-on.  I  should  prefer  doing  without  things  to  the 
worry  and  tedium  of  the  process  of  buying  them. 

The  higher  class  of  pedlars,  such  as  those  who  visit 
the  andaruns  of  the  rich,  go  in  couples,  with  a  donkey  or 
servant  to  carry  their  bundles. 

I  mentioned  that  the  Amir-i-Panj  had  called  and  had 
asked  me  to  visit  his  wifa  I  sent  a  message  to  say  that 
my  entrance  into  Isfahan  had  been  so  disagreeable  that 
I  should  be  afraid  to  pass  through  its  gates  again,  to 
which  he  replied  that  he  would  take  care  that  I  met 
with  no  incivility.  So  an  afternoon  visit  was  arranged, 
and  he  sent  a  splendid  charger  for  me,  one  of  the  finest 
horses  I  have  seen  in  Persia,  a  horse  for  Mirza  Yusuf, 
and  an  escort  of  six  cavalry  soldiers,  which  was  increased 
to  twelve  at  the  city  gate.  The  horse  I  rode  answered 
the  description — "a  neck  clothed  with  thunder," — he 
was  perfectly  gentle,  but  his  gait  was  that  of  a  creature 
too  proud  to  touch  the  earth.  It  was  exhilarating  to  be 
upon  such  an  animal. 

The  cavalry  men  rode  dashing  animals,  and  wore 
white  Astrakan  high  caps,  and  the  cortege  quite  filled 
up  the  narrow  alley  where  it  waited,  and  as  it  passed 
through  the  Chahar  Bagh  and  the  city  gate,  with  much 
prancing  and  clatter,  no  "  tongue  wagged "  either  of 
dervish  or  urchin. 

At  the  entrance  to  the  Amir's  house  I  was  received 
by  an  aide-de-camp  and  a  number  of  soldier-servants,  and 
was  "  conducted "  into  a  long  room  opening  by  many 
windows  upon  a  beautiful  garden  full  of  peach  blossom, 


161  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  ITER  xin 

violets,  and  irises;  the  table  was  covered  with  very  pretty 
confectionery,  including  piles  of  gaz,  a  favourite  sweet- 
meat, made  of  manna  which  is  chiefly  collected  within 
eighty  miles  of  Isfahan.  Coffee  was  served  in  little  cups 
in  filigree  gold  receptacles,  and  then  the  Amir-i-Panj 
appeared  in  a  white  uniform,  with  a  white  lambskin  cap, 
and  asked  "  permission  to  have  the  honour  of  accom- 
panying me  to  the  andarun." 

Persian  politeness  is  great,  and  the  Amir,  though  I 
think  he  is  a  Turk  and  not  a  Persian,  is  not  deficient  in  it. 
Such  phrases  as  "  My  house  is  purified  by  your  presence, 
I  live  a  thousand  years  in  this  visit,"  etc.,  were  freely  used. 

This  man,  who  receives  from  all  a  very  high  char- 
acter, and  whom  Moslems  speak  of  as  a  "saint,"  is  the 
most  interesting  Moslem  I  have  met  In  one  sense  a 
thoroughly  religious  man,  he  practises  all  the  virtues 
which  he  knows,  almsgiving  to  the  extent  of  self-denial, 
without  distinction  of  creed,  charity  in  word  and  deed, 
truth,  purity,  and  justice. 

I  had  been  much  prepossessed  in  his  favour  not  only 
from  Dr.  Bruce's  high  opinion  of  him  but  by  the  un- 
bouiided  love  and  reverence  which  my  interpreter  has  for 
him.  Mirza  Yusuf  marched  on  foot  from  Bushire  to 
Isfahan,  without  credentials,  an  alien,  and  penniless,  and 
this  good  man  hearing  of  him  took  him  into  his  house, 
and  treated  him  as  a  welcome  guest  till  a  friend  of  his,  a 
Moslem,  a  general  in  the  Persian  army,  also  good  and 
generous,  took  him  to  Tihran,  where  he  remained  as  his 
cuest  for  some  mouths,  and  was  introduced  into  the  best 

O 

Persian  society.  From  him  I  learned  how  beautiful  and 
pure  a  life  may  be  even  in  a  corrupt  nation.  When  he 
bowed  to  kiss  the  Amir's  hand,  with  grateful  affection  in 
his  face,  his  "  benefactor,"  as  he  always  calls  him,  turned 
to  me  and  said,  "  He  is  to  me  as  a  dear  son,  God  will  be 
with  him." 


LETTER  xiii  AN  ISFAHAN  ANDARUN  263 

The  garden  is  well  laid  out,  and  will  soon  be  full  of 
flowers.  The  Amir  seemed  to  love  them  passionately. 
He  said  that  they  gave  rest  and  joy,  and  are  "  the  fringes 
of  the  garment  of  God."  He  could  not  cut  them,  he  said, 
"Their  beauty  is  in  their  completeness  from  root  to 
petals,  and  cutting  destroys  it." 

A  curtained  doorway  in  the  high  garden  wall,  where 
the  curtains  were  held  aside  by  servants,  leads  into  the 
court  of  the  andarun,  where  flowers  again  were  in  the 
ascendant,  and  vines  concealed  the  walls.  The  son,  a 
small  boy,  met  us  and  kissed  my  hand.  Mirza  had  told 
me  that  he  had  never  passed  through  this  wall,  and 
had  never  seen  the  ladies,  but  when  I  proposed  to  leave 
him  outside,  the  Amir  said  he  would  be  welcome,  that  he 
wished  for  much  conversation,  and  for  his  wife  to  hear 
about  the  position  and  education  of  women  in  England. 

The  beautiful  reception-room  looked  something  like 
home.  The  pure  white  walls  and  honeycombed  ceiling 
are  touched  and  decorated  with  a  pale  shade  of  blue,  and 
the  ground  of  the  patterns  of  the  rich  carpets  on  the  floor 
is  in  the  same  delicate  colour,  which  is  repeated  in  the 
brocaded  stuffs  with  which  the  divans  are  covered.  A 
half-length  portrait  of  the  Amir  in  a  sky-blue  uniform, 
with  his  breast  covered  with  orders,  harmonises  with  the 
general  "  scheme  "  of  colour.  The  takchahs  in  the  walls 
are  utilised  for  vases  and  other  objects  in  alabaster,  jade, 
and  bronze.  A  tea-table  covered  with  sweetmeats,  a 
tea  equipage  on  the  floor,  and  some  chairs  completed 
the  furnishing. 

The  Amir  stood  till  his  wife  came  in,  and  then  asked 
permission  to  sit  down,  placing  Mirza,  who  discreetly 
lowered  his  eyes  when  the  lady  entered,  and  never  raised 
them  again,  on  the  floor. 

She  is  young,  tall,  and  somewhat  stout.  She  was 
much  rouged,  and  her  eyes,  to  which  the  arts  of  the 


264  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xui 

toilet  could  add  no  additional  beauty,  were  treated 
with  kohl,  and  the  eyebrows  artificially  extended.  She 
wore  fine  gray  socks,  white  skin-fitting  tights,  a  black 
satin  skirt,  or  rather  flounce,  embroidered  in  gold,  so 
bouffant e  with  flounces  of  starched  crinoline  under  it  that 
when  she  sat  down  it  stood  out  straight,  not  even  touch- 
ing the  chair.  A  chemise  of  spangled  gauze,  and  a  pale 
blue  gold-embroidered  zouave  jacket  completed  a  costume 
which  is  dress,  not  clothing.  The  somewhat  startling 
effect  was  toned  down  by  a  beautiful  Constantinople  silk 
gauze  veil,  sprigged  in  pale  pink  and  gold,  absolutely 
transparent,  which  draped  her  from  head  to  foot. 

I  did  not  get  away  in  less  than  two  hours.  The 
Amir  and  Mirza,  used  to  each  other's  modes  of  expression, 
found  no  difficulties,  and  Mirza  being  a  man  of  education 
as  well  as  intelligence,  thought  was  conveyed  as  easily  as 
fact.  The  lady  kept  her  fine  eyes  lowered  except  when 
her  husband  spoke  to  her. 

The  chief  topics  were  the  education  and  position  of 
women  in  England,  religion,  politics,  and  the  future  of 
Persia,  and  on  all  the  Amir  expressed  himself  with  a 
breadth  and  boldness  which  were  astonishing.  How  far 
the  Amir  has  gone  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Christian 
faith  I  cannot  say,  nor  do  I  feel  at  liberty  to  repeat  his 
most  interesting  thoughts.  A  Sunni,  a  liberal,  desiring 
complete  religious  liberty,  absolutely  tolerant  to  the  Babis, 
grateful  for  the  kindness  shown  to  some  of  them  by  the 
British  Legation,  and  for  the  protection  still  given  to  them 
at  the  C.  M.  S.  house,  admiring  Dr.  Bruce's  persevering 
work,  and  above  all  the  Medical  Mission,  which  he  regards 
as  "  the  crown  of  beneficence  "  and  "  the  true  imitation  of 
the  life  of  the  Great  Prophet,  Jesus,"  all  he  said  showed 
a  strongly  religious  nature,  and  a  philosophical  mind 
much  given  to  religious  thought.  "  All  true  religions  aim 
at  one  thing,"  lie  said, "  to  make  the  heart  and  life  pure." 


LETTER  xni          THE  POSITION  OF  WOMEN  265 

He  asked  a  good  deal  about  my  travels,  and  special 
objects  of  interest  iu  travelling,  and  was  surprised  when 
I  told  him  that  I  nearly  always  travel  alone ;  but  after  a 
moment's  pause  he  said,  "  I  do  not  understand  that  you 
were  for  a  moment  alone,  for  you  had  everywhere  the 
love,  companionship,  and  protection  of  God." 

He  regards  as  the  needs  of  Persia  education,  religious 
liberty  (the  law  which  punishes  a  Moslem  with  death  for 
embracing  Christianity  is  still  on  the  statute-book),  roads, 
and  railroads,  and  asked  me  if  I  had  formed  any  opinion 
on  the  subject.  I  said  that  it  appeared  to  me  that  security 
for  the  earnings  of  labour,  and  equal  laws  for  rich  and 
poor,  administered  by  incorruptible  judges,  should  accom- 
pany education.  I  much  fear  that  he  thinks  incorruptible 
judges  a  vision  of  a  dim  future ! 

The  subject  of  the  position  of  women  in  England 
and  the  height  to  which  female  education  is  now  carried 
interested  him  extremely.  He  wished  his  wife  to  under- 
stand everything  I  told  him.  The  success  of  women  in 
examinations  in  art,  literature,  music,  aud  other  things, 
and  the  political  wisdom  and  absolutely  constitutional  rule 
of  Queen  Victoria,  all  interested  him  greatly.  He  asked 
if  the  women  who  took  these  positions  were  equally  good 
as  wives  and  mothers  ?  I  could  only  refer  again  to 
Queen  Victoria.  An  Oriental  cannot  understand  the 
position  of  unmarried  women  with  us,  or  dissociate  it 
from  religious  vows,  and  the  Amir  heard  with  surprise  that 
a  very  large  part  of  the  philanthropic  work  which  is  done 
in  England  is  done  by  women  who  either  from  accident 
or  design  have  neither  the  happiness  nor  the  duties  of 
married  life.  He  hopes  to  see  women  in  Persia  educated 
and  emancipated  from  the  trammels  of  certain  customs, 
"  but,"  he  added,  "  all  reform  in  this  direction  must  come 
slowly,  and  grow  naturally  out  of  a  wider  education,  if 
it  is  to  be  good  and  not  hurtful." 


JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xm 

He  asked  me  what  I  should  like  to  see  in  Isfahan, 
but  when  I  mentioned  the  prison  he  said  he  should  be 
ashamed  to  show  it,  and  that  except  for  political  offences 
imprisonment  is  not  much  resorted  to,  that  Persian 
justice  is  swift  and  severe — the  bastinado,  etc.,  not 
incarceration. 

Afterwards  I  paid  a  similar  visit  to  the  bouse  of 
Mirza  Yusufs  other  "  benefactor,"  also  a  good  and  charit- 
able man,  who,  as  he  speaks  French  well,  acted  as  inter- 
preter in  the  and  n  rim. 

A  few  days  later  the  Amir-i-Panj,  accompanied  by 
General  Faisarallah  Khan,  called  on  Dr.  Bruce  and  on 
me,  and  showed  how  very  agreeable  a  morning  visit  might 
be  made,  and  the  following  day  the  Amir  sent  the  same 
charger  and  escort  for  me,  and  meeting  him  and  Dr. 
Bruce  in  the  Chahar  Bagh,  we  visited  the  Medresseh,  a 
combined  mosque  and  college,  and  the  armoury,  where  we 
were  joined  by  two  generals  and  were  afterwards  enter- 
tained at  tea  in  the  Standard  Room,  while  a  military 
band  played  outside.  The  Amir  had  ordered  some 
artificers  skilled  in  the  brass-work  for  which  Isfahan  is 
famous  to  exhibit  their  wares  in  one  of  the  rooms  at 
the  armoury,  and  in  every  way  tried  to  make  the  visit 
more  agreeable  than  an  inspection  of  the  jail!  He 
advises  me  not  to  wear  a  veil  in  the  Bakhtiari  country, 
and  to  be  "as  European  as  possible." 

The  armoury,  of  which  he  has  had  the  organising,  does 
not  fall  within  my  province.  There  are  many  large 
rooms  with  all  the  appliances  of  war  in  apparently 
perfect  order  for  the  equipment  of  5000  men. 

With  equal  brevity  I  pass  over  the  Mcdresseh,  whose 
silver  gates  and  exquisite  tiles  have  been  constantly 
described.  Decay  will  leave  little  of  this  beautiful 
building  in  a  few  years.  The  tiles  of  the  dome,  which 
can  be  seen  for  miles,  are  falling  off,  and  even  in  the 


LETTER  xin      ENGLISH  TRADE  IN  ISFAHAN  267 

halls  of  instruction  and  in  the  grand  mosque  under  the 
dome,  which  are  completely  lined  and  roofed  by  tiles,  the 
making  of  some  of  which  is  a  lost  art,  one  may  augur 
the  approach  of  ruin  from  the  loss  or  breakage  here  and 
there.  In  the  rooms  or  cells  occupied  by  the  students, 
who  study  either  theology  or  law,  there  are  some  very 
fine  windows  executed  in  the  beautiful  tracery  common 
to  Persia  and  Kashmir,  but  the  effect  of  beauty  passing 
into  preventible  decay  is  very  mournful. 

Isfahan  too  I  barely  notice,  for  the  best  of  all  reasons, 
that  I  have  not  seen  it !  Though  a  fourth  part  of  it  is 
in  ruins,  and  its  population  is  not  an  eighth  of  what  it 
was  in  the  days  of  Shah  Abbas,  it  is  a  fairly  thriving 
commercial  emporium  with  an  increasing  British  trade. 
Indeed  here  Russian  commercial  influence  may  be  said 
to  cease,  and  that  of  England  to  become  paramount. 
It  is  the  paradise  of  Manchester  and  Glasgow  cottons : 
woollen  goods  come  from  Austria  and  Germany,  glass 
from  Austria,  crockery  from  England,  candles  and  kerosene 
represent  Russia.  Our  commercial  supremacy  in  Isfahan 
cannot  be  disputed.  I  am  almost  tired  of  hearing  of  it. 
Opium,  tobacco,  carpets  from  the  different  provinces, 
and  cotton  and  rice  for  native  consumption,  are  the  chief 
exports.  Opium  is  increasingly  grown  round  the  city, 
and  up  the  course  of  the  Zainderud.  Of  the  4500  cases 
exported,  worth  £90  a  case,  three-fourths  go  to  China. 
Its  cultivation  is  so  profitable  and  has  increased  so 
rapidly  to  the  neglect  of  food  crops  that  the  Prince 
Governor  has  issued  an  order  that  one  part  of  cereals 
shall  be  sown  for  every  four  of  the  opium  poppy. 

The  cotton  in  the  bazars,  through  which  one  can  walk 
under  cover  for  between  two  and  three  miles,  is  of  the 
best  quality,  owing  to  the  successful  measures  taken  by 
the  calico  printers  to  defeat  the  roguery  of  the  cheating 
manufacturers.  All  the  European  necessaries  and  many 


288  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LKTTEB  xm 

of  the  luxuries  of  life  are  obtainable,  and  the  Isfahan 
bazars  are  the  busiest  in  Persia  except  those  of  Tabriz. 

It  is  only  fair  to  this  southern  capital  to  say  that  if  one 
can  walk  over  two  miles  under  the  roofs  of  its  fine 
bazars,  one  can  ride  for  many  miles  among  its  mins, 
which  have  desolation  without  stateliness,  and  are  chiefly 
known  for  the  production  of  the  excellent  wild  asparagus 
which  is  used  lavishly  on  European  tables  at  this  season. 

The  "  Persian  Versailles,"  the  Palace  of  Forty  Pillars, 
each  pillar  formed  of  shafts  enriched  with  colour  and 
intricate  work,  and  resting  on  a  marble  lion,  the  shaking 
Minarets,  the  Masjid-i-Shah  with  its  fine  dome  of  pea- 
cock-blue tiles,  all  falling  into  premature  decay,  remain 
to  attest  its  former  greatness;  the  other  noble  palaces, 
mosques,  caravanserais,  and  Medressehs  are  ruinous,  the 
superb  pleasure  gardens  are  overgrown  with  weeds  or 
are  used  for  vetches  and  barley,  the  tanks  are  foul  or 
filled  up,  the  splendid  plane  trees  have  been  cut  down 
for  fuel,  or  are  dragging  out  a  hollow  existence — every 
one,  as  elsewhere  in  Persia,  destroys,  no  one  restores. 
The  armoury  is  the  one  exception  to  the  general  law  of 
decay. 

Yet  Isfahan  covered  an  area  of  twenty-four  miles  in 
circumference,  and  with  its  population  of  650,000  souls 
was  until  the  seventeenth  century  one  of  the  most  magni- 
ficent cities  of  the  East  Its  destruction  last  century  by 
an  Afghan  conqueror,  who  perpetrated  a  fifteen  days' 
massacre,  and  the  removal  of  the  court  to  Tihran,  have 
reduced  it  to  a  mere  commercial  centre,  a  "  distributing 
point,"  and  as  such,  its  remains  may  take  a  new  lease  of 
life.  It  has  a  newspaper  called  the  Farhang,  which 
prints  little  bits  of  news,  chiefly  personal  Its  editor 
moves  on  European  lines  so  far  as  to  have  "  interviewed  " 
me! 

There  are   manufactures  in  Isfahan  other  than    the 


LETTER  xin  THE  "  CITY  OF  WATERS "  269 

successful  printing  and  dyeing  of  cottons ;  viz.,  earthen- 
ware, china,  brass-work,  velvet,  satin,  tents,  coarse  cottons, 
glass,  swords,  guns,  pistols,  jewellery,  writing  paper  and 
envelopes,  silk  brocades,  satins,  gunpowder,  bookbinding, 
gold  thread,  etc. 

The  plateau  on  which  Isfahan  stands,  about  seventy 
miles  from  east  to  west  and  twenty  from  north  to  south, 
and  enclosed  by  high  mountains  with  a  striking  outline, 
lies  5400  feet  above  the  sea.  The  city  has  a  most  salu- 
brious climate,  and  is  free  from  great  extremes  both  of 
heat  and  cold.  The  Zainderud,  on  whose  left  bank  it  is 
situated,  endows  much  of  the  plain  with  fertility  on  its 
way  to  its  undeserved  doom  in  a  partially-explored  swamp. 

This  Christian  town,  called  a  suburb,  though  it  is 
really  two  and  a  half  miles  from  Isfahan,  is  a  well-built 
and  well -peopled  nucleus.  It  is  not  mixed  up  with 
ruins  as  Isfahan  is.  They  have  a  region  to  themselves 
chiefly  in  the  direction  of  the  Kuh  Sufi.  My  impression 
of  it  after  a  month  is  that  it  is  clean  and  comfortable- 
looking,  Mr.  Curzon's  is  that  it  is  "  squalid."  I  prefer 
mine ! 

It  is  a  "  city  of  waters."  Streams  taken  from  a 
higher  level  of  the  Zainderud  glide  down  nearly  all  its 
lanes,  shaded  by  pollard  mulberries,  ash,  elm,  and  the 
"  sparrow-tongue  "  willow,  which  makes  the  best  firewood, 
and  being  "  planted  by  the  rivers  of  water,"  grows  so  fast 
that  it  bears  lopping  annually,  and  besides  affording  fuel 
supplies  the  twigs  which  are  used  for  roofing  such  rooms 
as  are  not  arched. 

The  houses,  some  of  which  are  more  than  three 
centuries  old,  are  built  of  mud  bricks,  the  roofs  are 
usually  arched,  and  the  walls  are  from  three  to  five  feet 
thick.  All  possess  planted  courtyards  and  vineyards,  and 
gardens  into  which  channels  are  led  from  the  streams  in 
the  streets.  These  streams  serve  other  purposes  :  continu- 


270  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xiu 

ally  a  group  of  A  nut-man  women  may  be  seen  washing 
their  clothes  in  them,  while  others  are  drinking  or  draw- 
ing water  just  below.  The  lanes  are  about  twenty  feet 
wide  and  have  narrow  rough  causeways  on  both  sides 
of  the  water-channel.  It  is  difficult  on  horseback  to 
pass  a  foot  passenger  without  touching  him  in  some  of 
them. 

Great  picturesqueness  is  given  to  these  leafy  lanes  by 
the  companies  of  Armenian  women  in  bright  red  dresses 
and  pure  white  robes,  slowly  walking  through  them  at 
all  hours  of  daylight,  visions  of  bright  eyes  and  rosy 
cheeks.  I  have  never  yet  seen  a  soiled  white  robe ! 
Long  blank  mud  .walls,  low  gateways,  an  occasional  row 
of  mean  shops,  open  porches  of  churches,  dim  and  cool, 
and  an  occasional  European  on  foot  or  horseback,  and 
groups  of  male  Armenians,  whose  dress  so  closely 
approaches  the  European  as  to  be  without  interest,  and 
black-robed  priests  gliding  to  the  churches  are  all  that  is 
usually  to  be  seen.  It  sounds  dull,  perhaps. 

Many  of  the  houses  of  the  rich  Armenians,  some  of 
which  are  now  let  to  Europeans,  are  extremely  beautiful 
inside,  and  even  those  occupied  by  the  poorer  classes,  in 
which  a  single  lofty  room  can  be  rented  for  twopence  a 
week,  are  very  pretty  and  appropriate.  But  no  evidence  of 
wealth  is  permitted  to  be  seen  from  the  outside.  It  is 
only  a  few  years  since  the  Armenians  were  subject  to 
many  disabilities,  and  they  have  even  now  need  to  walk 
warily  lest  they  give  offence.  As,  for  instance,  an 
Armenian  was  compelled  to  ride  an  ass  instead  of  a 
horse,  and  when  that  restriction  was  relaxed,  he  had  to 
show  his  inferiority  by  dismounting  from  his  horse  before 
entering  the  gates  of  Isfahan. 

They  were  not  allowed  to  have  bells  on  their  churches, 
(at  Easter  I  wished  they  had  none  still),  but  now  the 
Egglesiah  Wang  (the  great  church)  has  a  fine  campanile 


LETTER  xin         THE  LANGUAGE  OF  GATES  271 

over  100  feet  high  in  its  inner  court.  The  ancient  mode 
of  announcing  the  hours  of  worship  is  still  affectionately 
adhered  to,  however.  It  consists  of  drumming  with  a 
mallet  on  a  board  hanging  from  two  posts,  and  success- 
fully breaks  the  sleep  of  the  neighbourhood  for  the  daily 
service  which  begins  before  daylight 

The  Armenians,  like  the  rich  Persians,  prudently  keep 
to  the  low  gateways,  which,  with  the  absence  of  windows 
and  all  exterior  ornament,  give  the  lanes  so  mean  an 
aspect,  and  tend  to  make  one  regard  the  beauty  and  even 
magnificence  within  with  considerable  surprise. 

In  England  a  rich  man,  partly  for  his  own  delectation, 
and  partly,  if  he  be  "  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune," 
to  impose  his  position  ocularly  on  his  poorer  neighbours, 
displays  his  wealth  in  all  ways  and  on  most  occasions. 
In  Persia  his  chief  pleasure  must  be  to  hoard  it  and  con- 
template it,  for  any  unusual  display  of  it  in  equipages  or 
furnishings  is  certain  to  bring  down  upon  him  a  "  squeeze," 
at  Tihran  in  the  shape  of  a  visit  from  the  Shah  with  its 
inevitable  consequences,  and  in  the  Provinces  in  that  of 
a  requisition  from  the  governor. 

For  a  man  to  "  enlarge  his  gates  "  is  to  court  destruc- 
tion. Poor  men  have  low  gates,  which  involve  stooping, 
to  prevent  rich  men's  servants  from  entering  their  houses 
on  horseback  on  disagreeable  errands.  Christian  churches 
have  remarkably  low  doors  elsewhere  than  in  Julfa,  to 
prevent  the  Moslems  from  stabling  their  cattle  in  them. 
Rich  men  affect  mean  entrances  in  order  not  to  excite  the 
rapacity  of  officialism,  according  to  the  ancient  proverb, 
"  He  that  exalteth  his  gate  seeketh  destruction  "  (Proverbs 
xvii.  19).  Only  Royal  gates  and  the  gates  of  officials  who 
represent  Royalty  are  high. 

The  Armenian  merchants  have,  like  the  Europeans, 
their  offices  in  Isfahan.  The  rest  of  the  people  get 
their  living  by  the  making  and  selling  of  wine,  keeping 


272  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LITTER  xin 

small  shops,  making  watches  and  jewellery,  carpentering, 
in  which  they  are  very  skilful,  and  market-gardening; 
they  are  thrifty  and  industrious,  and  there  is  very  little 
real  poverty. 

The  selling  of  wine  does  not  conduce  to  the  peace  of 
Julfa.  A  mixture  of  sour  wine  and  arak,  a  coarse  spirit, 
is  very  intoxicating,  and  Persians,  when  they  do  drink, 
drink  till  they  are  drunk,  and  the  abominable  concealed 
traffic  in  liquor  with  the  Moslems  of  the  town  is  apt 
to  produce  disgraceful  brawls. 

Wine  can  be  bought  for  fourpence  a  quart,  but  the 
upper  classes  make  their  own,  and  it  costs  less  than  this. 
Wines  are  both  red  and  white,  and  one  red  wine  is  said 
to  be  like  good  ChiantL  The  Armenians  tipple  and  also 
get  drunk,  priests  included.  It  is  said  that  some  of  the 
jars  used  in  fermenting  are  between  200  and  300  years 
old. 

The  excellent  education  given  in  the  C.  M.  S.  schools 
has  had  the  effect  of  stimulating  the  Armenian  schools, 
and  of  producing  among  the  young  men  a  large 
emigration  to  India,  Batavia,  Constantinople,  and  even 
England.  Only  the  dullards  as  a  rule  remain  in  Julfa. 
Some  rise  high  in  Persian  and  even  in  Turkish  employ- 
ment. 

The  Armenian  women  are  capital  housewives  and 
very  industrious.  In  these  warm  evenings  the  poorer 
women  sit  outside  their  houses  in  groups  knitting. 
The  knitting  of  socks  is  a  great  industry,  and  a  woman 
can  earn  4s.  a  month  by  it,  which  is  enough  to  live  upon. 

In  Julfa,  and  it  may  be  partly  owing  to  the  presence 
of  a  European  community,  the  Christians  have  nothing  to 
complain  of,  and,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  they  are  on  terms  of 
equality  with  the  Persians. 

However,  Isfahan  is  full  of  religious  intolerance  which 
can  easily  be  excited  to  frenzy,  and  the  arrogance  of  the 


LETTER  xni  THE  BABIS  273 

mollahs  has  increased  since  the  fall  from  almost  regal 
state  of  the  Zil-i-Sultan,  the  Shah's  eldest  son,  into  the 
position  of  a  provincial  governor,  for  he  curbed  them  some- 
what, and  now  the  restraint  is  removed.  However,  it  is 
against  the  Jews  and  the  £dbis,  rather  than  the  Christians, 
that  their  hostility  is  directed. 

A  few  weeks  ago  some  Babis  were  peaceably  return- 
ing to  a  neighbouring  village,  when  they  were  attacked, 
and  seven  of  their  number  were  massacred  under  atrocious 
circumstances,  the  remainder  taking  refuge  for  a  time  in 
the  British  Telegraph  office.  Several  of  both  sexes  who 
escaped  are  in  concealment  here  in  a  room  in  the  Hospital 
compound,  one  of  them  with  a  broken  jaw. 

The  hiding  of  these  Babis  has  given  great  umbrage  to 
the  bigots  of  Isfahan,  though  the  Amir-i-Panj  justified 
it  on  all  grounds,  and  about  the  time  I  arrived  it  was 
said  that  a  thousand  city  fanatics  purposed  to  attack  the 
mission  premises.  But  at  one  of  the  mosques  there  is  a 
mollah,  who  with  Gamaliel-like  wisdom  urged  upon  them 
"that  if  300  Moslems  were  killed  nothing  would  happen, 
but  if  a  single  European  were  killed,  what  then  ?Ml 

I  cannot  close  this  letter  without  a  few  words  on  the 
Armenian  churches,  some  of  which  I  visited  with  Mr. 
and  Dr.  Aganoor,  and  others  with  Dr.  Bruce.  The  cere- 
mony representing  the  washing  of  the  disciples'  feet  on 
the  Armenian  Holy  Thursday  was  a  most  magnificent  one 
as  regards  the  antique  splendour  and  extreme  beauty  of 
the  vestments  and  jewels  of  the  officiating  bishop,  but 

1  I  have  written  nothing  about  this  fast-increasing  sect  of  the  Babis, 
partly  because  being  a  secret  sect,  I  doubt  whether  the  doctrines  which 
are  suffered  to  leak  out  form  really  any  part  of  its  esoteric  teaching,  and 
partly  because  those  Europeans  who  have  studied  the  Babis  most  candidly 
are  diametrically  opposed  in  their  views  of  their  tenets  and  practice,  some 
holding  that  their  aspirations  are  after  a  purer  life,  while  others,  and  I 
think  a  majority,  believe  that  their  teachings  are  subversive  of  morality 
and  of  the  purity  of  domestic  life. 

VOL.1  T 


274  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xni 

the  feet,  which  are  washed  in  rose-water  and  anointed, 
are  not,  as  in  Rome,  those  of  beggars,  but  of  neophytes 
costumed  in  pure  white.  Incense,  embroideries,  crowds 
of  white -robed  women,  and  other  accessories  made  the 
function  an  imposing  one. 

The  Cathedral,  a  part  of  the  Monastery,  has  a  narrow 
winding  approach  and  a  thick  door,  for  ecclesiastics  were 
not  always  as  safe  as  they  are  now.  In  the  outer  court  is 
the  campanile  before  mentioned.  The  floor  is  paved  with 
monumental  slabs,  and  among  the  graves  are  those  of 
several  Europeans.  Piles  of  logs  look  as  if  the  Julfa 
carpenters  seasoned  their  wood  in  this  court ! 

The  church  is  divided  by  a  rail  into  two  compartments. 
The  dome  is  rich  with  beaten  gold,  and  the  dado  is  of 
very  fine  tiles,  which  produce  a  striking  effect  The 
embroideries  and  the  carpets,  some  of  which  are  worth 
fabulous  sums,  are  between  two  and  three  centuries  old. 
The  vestments  and  ornaments  of  the  priests  are  very 
fine,  and  suggest  the  attire  of  the  Aaronic  priesthood. 

It  is  a  striking  building,  and  the  amount  of  gold  and 
colour,  toned  into  a  certain  harmony  by  time,  produces  a 
gorgeous  effect.  The  outer  compartment  has  a  singular 
interest,  for  230  years  ago  its  walls  were  decorated 
with  religious  paintings,  on  a  large  scale,  of  events  in 
Bible  history,  from  the  creation  downwards.  Some  are 
copies,  others  original,  and  they  are  attributed  to  Italian 
artists.  They  are  well  worth  careful  study  as  represent- 
ing the  conceptions  which  found  favour  among  the 
Armenian  Christians  of  that  day.  They  are  terribly 
realistic,  but  are  certainly  instructive,  especially  the 
illustrations  of  the  miracles  and  parables. 

In  one  of  the  latter  a  man  with  a  huge  beam  sticking 
out  of  one  eye  is  represented  as  looking  superciliously 
with  the  other  at  a  man  with  an  insignificant  spike  pro- 
jecting. The  death  of  Dives  is  a  horrible  representation. 


LETTER  xiii  PICTURES  IN  CHURCHES  275 

His  soul,  in  the  likeness  of  a  very  small  nude  figure,  is 
represented  as  escaping  from  the  top  of  his  head,  and  is 
being  escorted  to  the  entrance  of  the  lower  regions  by 
a  flight  of  small  black  devils.  The  idea  of  the  soul 
emerging  from  the  top  of  the  head  is  evidently  borrowed 
from  the  Moslems. 

Our  Lord  is,  I  think,  everywhere  depicted  as  short, 
dark,  and  dark -haired,  with  eyebrows  much  curved, 
and  a  very  long  upper  lip,  without  beauty  or  dignity,  an 
ordinary  Oriental  workman. 

The  picture  of  the  Cathedral  is  an  enormous  canvas, 
representing  the  day  when  "  before  Him  shall  be  gathered 
all  nations."  The  three  persons  of  the  Trinity  are  there, 
t  and  saints  and  angels  are  portrayed  as  worshipping,  or 
as  enjoying  somewhat  earthly  but  perfectly  innocent 
delights. 

In  this  the  conception  is  analogous  to  those  celebrated 
circular  pictures  in  which  the  Buddhistic  future  is  un- 
rolled, and  which  I  last  saw  in  the  monasteries  of 
Lesser  Tibet.  The  upper  or  heavenly  part  is  insigni- 
ficant and  very  small,  while  the  torments  of  the  lost  in 
the  lower  part  are  on  a  very  large  scale,  and  both  the 
devils  and  the  nude  human  sufferers  in  every  phase  of 
anguish  have  the  appearance  of  life  size.  The  ingenuity 
of  torment,  however,  is  not  nearly  so  great,  nor  are  the 
scenes  so  revolting  as  those  which  Oriental  imagination 
has  depicted  in  the  Buddhist  hells.  A  huge  mythical 
monster  represents  the  mouth  of  hell,  and  into  his  flaming 
and  smoking  jaws  the  impenitent  are  falling.  Does  any 
modern  Armenian  believe  that  any  of  those  whose  bones 
lie  under  the  huge  blocks  of  stone  in  the  cemetery  in  the 
red  desert  at  the  foot  of  Kuh  Sufi  have  passed  into  "  this 
place  of  torment "  ? 

The  other  church  which  claims  one's  interest,  though 
not  used  for  worship,  is  that  of  St.  George,  the  hero  of  the 


270  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xni 

fraudulent  contract  in  bacon,  as  well  as  of  the  dragon 
fight,  to  whom  the  Armenians  as  well  as  ourselves  render 
singular  honour. 

This  church  is  a  great  place  for  "  miracles  "  of  healing, 
and  cells  for  the  sick  who  come  from  a  distance  are 
freely  provided.  In  a  covered  court  are  some  large  stones 
in  a  group,  one  of  them  evidently  the  capital  of  a  column. 
Two  of  them  have  cavities  at  the  top,  and  the  sick  kneel 
before  them,  and  as  the  voluble  women  who  were  there 
told  us,  "  they  first  pray  to  God  and  then  to  the  stones," 
and  finally  pour  water  into  these  cavities  and  drink  it. 
The  cure  is  either  instantaneous  or  occurs  at  any  time 
within  fifteen  days,  and  in  every  case  the  patient  hears 
the  voice  of  St.  George  telling  him  to  go  home  when  it 
is  complete. 

These  stones,  according  to  the  legend  told  by  the 
women  and  popularly  believed  by  the  uneducated,  took 
it  into  their  heads  to  come  from  Etchmiadzin  in 
Armenia,  the  residence  of  the  Catholicos,  in  one  night, 
and  deposited  themselves  where  the  church  now  stands. 
Seven  times  they  were  taken  into  Faraidan,  eighty  miles 
from  Julfa,  and  as  often  returned,  and  their  manifest  pre- 
dilection was  at  last  rewarded  by  a  rest  of  centuries. 
There  were  a  number  of  sick  people  waiting  for  healing, 
for  which  of  course  fees  are  bestowed. 

The  Armenians,  especially  the  women,  pay  great 
attention  to  the  externals  of  their  religion.  Some  of  its 
claims  are  very  severe,  such  as  the  daily  service  before 
daylight,  winter  and  summer,  and  the  long  fasts,  wliich 
they  keep  with  surprising  loyalty,  i.e.  among  the  poor  in 
towns  and  in  the  villages.  For  at  least  one-sixth  of  the 
year  they  are  debarred  from  the  use  of  meat  or  even 
eggs,  and  are  permitted  only  vegetable  oils,  fruits,  vege- 
tables, and  grain.  Spirits  and  wine,  however,  are  not 
prohibited. 


LETTER  xin  THE  HOLY  OIL  277 

I  really  believe  that  their  passionate  attachment  to 
their  venerable  church,  the  oldest  of  all  national  churches, 
is  fostered  by  those  among  them  who  have  ceased  to 
believe  its  doctrines,  as  a  necessity  of  national  existence. 
I  doubt  very  much  whether  the  "  Keformed  "  congrega- 
tions, which  have  been  gathered  out  here  and  elsewhere, 
would  survive  the  withdrawal  of  foreign  aid.  Rather,  I 
think,  they  would  revert  to  the  original  type. 

Superstitions  without  number  are  mixed  up  with  their 
beliefs,  and  are  countenanced  by  the  priests.  The  meron 
or  holy  oil  used  in  baptism  and  for  other  purposes  has 
the  stamp  of  charlatanism  upon  it  It  is  made  in 
Etchmiadzin. 

Eose  leaves  are  collected  in  an  immense  vat,  which  is 
filled  with  water,  and  at  a  set  time  the  monks  and  nuns 
form  a  circle  round  it,  and  repeat  prayers  till  "fermenta- 
tion "  begins.  They  claim  that  the  so-called  fermentation 
ia  a  miracle  due  to  the  prayers  offered.  Oil,  probably 
attar  of  roses,  rises  to  the  surface,  and  this  precious 
meron  is  sent  to  the  Armenian  churches  throughout  the 
world  about  once  in  four  or  five  years.  In  Persia  those 
who  bear  it  are  received  with  an  istikbal  or  procession  of 
welcome. 

It  is  used  not  only  in  baptism  and  other  rites  but  at 
the  annual  ceremony  of  washing  the  Cross  at  Christmas, 
when  some  of  it  is  poured  into  the  water  and  is  drunk 
by  the  worshippers.  In  the  villages  they  make  a  paste 
by  mixing  this  water  and  oil  with  earth,  which  is  made 
into  balls  and  kept  in  the  houses  for  "luck."  If  a 
dog  licks  a  bowl  or  other  vessel,  and  thus  renders  it 
unclean,  rubbing  it  round  with  one  of  these  balls  restores 
it  to  purity. 

At  a  village  in  Faraidan  there  is  an  ancient  New 
Testament,  reputed  to  be  of  the  sixth  century.  To  this 
MS.  people  come  on  pilgrimage  from  all  quarters,  even 


278  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xm 

from  Fare,  Tihran,  and  Armenia,  to  be  healed  of  tin -ir 
diseases,  and  they  make  offerings  to  it,  and  practically 
render  it  worship. 

To  go  and  pray  on  a  newly-made  grave  is  a  remedy 
for  childlessness  much  resorted  to  by  childless  wives. 
When  two  boys  fight,  and  one  of  them  is  hurt,  or  when 
any  one  is  injured  by  a  dog  or  by  a  tree  falling,  they 
wash  the  damaged  person  in  water,  and  then  throw  the 
water  over  the  boy,  dog,  or  tree  which  has  been  the  cause 
of  the  injury,  believing  that  in  this  way  the  mischief 
is  transferred. 

When  any  one  is  ill  of  fright  and  the  cause  is  not 
known,  the  nuns  come  to  the  house,  and  pour  wax  into 
a  basin  of  boiling  water,  noting  the  form  it  takes,  such 
as  a  snake,  a  dog,  or  a  frog.  In  a  case  lately  they 
went  out  and  killed  a  snake,  for  the  thing  whose  form 
the  wax  takes  ought  to  be  killed ;  but  as  this  might  often 
be  difficult  or  unsuitable,  they  compromise  the  matter 
by  throwing  the  water  (not  boiling,  I  hope)  over  the 
nearest  dog  or  toad,  or  anything  else  which  is  supposed 
to  be  the  culprit 

On  the  first  Monday  in  Lent  the  women  wash  their 
knitting  needles  for  luck  in  a  stream  which  runs  through 
Julfa.  The  children  educated  in  the  Mission  schools 
laugh  at  these  and  many  other  superstitions. 

The  dress  of  the  Armenian  women  is  very  showy,  but 
too  much  of  a  huddle.  Red  is  the  dominant  colour,  a 
carnation  red  with  white  patterns  sprawling  over  it 
They  wear  coloured  trousers  concealed  by  a  long  skirt 
The  visible  under-garment  is  a  long,  "  shaped "  dress  of 
Turkey  red.  Over  this  is  worn  a  somewhat  scanty  gown 
of  red  and  white  cotton,  open  in  front,  and  very  short- 
waisted,  and  over  this  a  plain  red  pelisse  or  outer  gar- 
ment, often  quilted,  open  in  front,  gashed  up  the  sides, 
and  falling  below  the  knees.  Of  course  this  costume  is 


LETTER  xiii      ARMENIAN  FEMALE  COSTUME  279 

liable  to  many  modifications  in  the  way  of  material,  and 
embroidered  jackets,  heavily  trimmed  with  jewellery  and 
the  like.  As  fashion  is  unchanging  the  acquisition  and 
hoarding  of  garments  are  carried  to  a  great  extent. 

There  are  two  marked  features  of  Armenian  dress,  one, 
the  massive  silver  girdle  made  of  heavy  chased-silver  links 
four  inches  long  by  two  deep,  often  antique  and  always 
of  antique  design,  which  falls  much  below  the  waist  in 
front,  and  is  used  to  confine  the  ends  of  the  white  sheet 
which  envelops  an  Armenian  woman  out  of  doors,  so  that 
it  may  hang  evenly  all  round.  The  other  is  a  skull-cap 
of  embroidered  silk  or  cloth,  placed  well  back  on  the  head 
above  the  many  hanging  plaits  in  which  the  hair  is  worn, 
with  a  black  velvet  coronet  in  front,  from  which  among 
the  richer  women  rows  of  coins  depend.  This,  which  is 
very  becoming  to  the  brilliant  complexion  and  comely 
face  below  it,  is  in  its  turn  covered  by  a  half  handkerchief, 
and  over  this  is  gracefully  worn,  when  not  gracelessly 
clutched,  a  chadar  or  drapery  of  printed  cambric  or 
muslin.  A  white  band  bound  across  the  chin  up  to  the 
lips  suggests  a  broken  jaw,  and  the  tout  ensemble  of  the 
various  wrappings  of  the  head  a  perennial  toothache. 

I.  L.  B. 


JOURNEYS  IX  PERSIA  LETTER  xiv 


LETTER  XIV 

JULFA,  April  SO. 

You  Will  be  tired  of  Julfa  though  I  am  not  I  fully 
expected  to  have  left  it  a  fortnight  ago,  but  unavoidable 
delays  have  occurred.  My  caravan  and  sen-ants  started 
this  morning,  and  I  leave  myself  in  a  few  hours. 

Upon  my  horse  I  have  bestowed  the  suggestive 
name  of  Screw.  He  is  fairly  well-bred,  big-headed, 
big-eared,  small-bodied,  bright  bay,  fine-coated,  slightly 
flat-footed,  and  with  his  fore  hoofs  split  in  several  places 
from  the  coronet  nearly  to  the  shoe.  He  is  an  un- 
doubted yabu,  and  has  carried  loads  for  many  a  day. 
He  has  a  long  stride,  shies  badly,  walks  very  fast,  canters 
easily,  and  at  present  shows  no  tendency  to  tumble 
down.1 

I  have  had  pleasant  rides  alone,  crossing  the  defi- 
nite dividing  line  between  the  desert  and  the  oasis  of 
cultivation  and  irrigation,  watching  the  daily  develop- 
ment of  the  various  crops  and  the  brief  life  of  the  wild 
flowers,  creeping  through  the  green  fields  on  the  narrow 
margins  of  irrigating  ditches,  down  to  the  Pul-i-Kaju, 
and  returning  to  the  green  lanes  of  Julfa  by  the 

1  Screw  never  became  a  friend  or  companion,  scarcely  a  comrade,  bat 
showed  plenty  of  pluck  and  endurance,  climbed  and  descended  horrible 
rock  ladders  over  which  a  horse  with  a  rider  had  never  passed  before,  was 
steady  in  fords,  and  at  the  end  of  three  and  a  half  months  of  severe 
travelling  and  occasional  scarcity  of  food  was  in  better  condition  than 
when  he  left  Julfa. 


LETTER  xiv  TWO  INCIDENTS  281 

bright  waters  of  the  Zainderud  crimsoning  in  the  setting 
sun. 

For  in  the  late  cool  and  breezy  weather,  not  altogether 
free  from  clouds  and  showers,  there  have  been  some 
gorgeous  sunsets,  and  magnificent  colouring  of  the  depth 
and  richness  which  people  call  tropical,  has  blazed  ex- 
travagantly ;  and  from  the  violet  desert  to  the  indigo 
storm-clouds  on  the  still  snow-patched  Kuhriid  moun- 
tains, from  the  vivid  green  of  the  oasis  to  the  purple 
crags  in  dark  relief  against  a  sky  of  flame,  all  things  have 
been  new. 

Two  Sundays  witnessed  two  incidents,  one  the  bap- 
tism of  a  young  Moslem  in  a  semi-private  fashion,  who 
shortly  afterwards  renounced  Christianity,  and  the  other 
that  of  a  respectable  Mohammedan  merchant  in  Isfahan, 
who  has  long  pleaded  for  baptism,  presenting  himself  at 
the  altar  rails  at  the  Holy  Communion,  resolved  that  if 
he  were  not  permitted  to  confess  Christ  as  Divine  in  one 
way  he  would  in  another.  He  was  passed  over,  to  my 
great  regret,  if  he  be  sincere,  but  I  suppose  the  Eubric 
leaves  no  choice.1 

I  have  written  little  about  my  prospective  journey 
because  there  has  been  a  prolonged  uncertainty  about  it, 
and  even  now  I  cannot  give  any  definite  account  of  the 
project,  except  that  the  route  lies  through  an  altogether 
mountainous  region,  in  that  part  of  the  province  of 
Luristan  known  in  Persia  colloquially  as  the  "  Bakhtiari 
country,"  from  being  inhabited  by  the  Bakhtiari  Lurs, 
chiefly  nomads.  The  pros  and  cons  as  to  my  going  have 
been  innumerable,  and  the  two  people  in  Persia  who 
know  the  earlier  part  of  the  route  say  that  the  character 
of  the  people  makes  it  impossible  for  a  lady  to  travel 

1  He  has  since  been  baptized,  but  for  safety  had  to  relinquish  his 
business  and  go  to  India,  where  he  is  supporting  himself,  and  his  conduct 
is  satisfactory. 


282  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xiv 

among  them.  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  the  consent 
and  help  of  the  highest  authorities,  Persian  and  English, 
and  shall  not  go  too  far,  but  shall  return  to  Isfahan  in 
case  things  should  turn  out  as  is  feared.  The  exploration 
of  a  previously  unexplored  region  will  he  in  itself  inter- 
esting, but  whether  there  will  be  sufficient  of  the  human 
interests,  which  I  chiefly  care  for,  I  doubt ;  in  that  case 
the  journey  will  be  dull. 

At  all  events  I  shall  probably  have  to  return  here  in 
two  months,1  but  such  a  journey  for  myself  and  two  serv- 
ants in  such  a  region  requires  extensive  preparations, 
and  I  "have  brought  all  my  own  travelling  "  dodges  "  into 
requisition,  with  a  selection  of  those  of  other  people. 

It  is  considered  desirable  to  carry  stores  from  Isfahan 
for  forty  days,  except  flour  and  rice,  which  can  be  obtained 
a  week's  march  from  here.  At  the  British  Legation 
I  was  kindly  supplied  with  many  tins  of  preserved  meat, 
and  milk,  and  jam,  and  besides  these  I  am  only  taking 
a  quantity  of  Edwards'  Desiccated  Soup,  portable  and 
excellent,  twelve  pounds  of  tea,  and  ten  pounds  of  candles. 
The  great  thing  in  planning  is  to  think  of  what  one  can 
do  without  Two  small  bottles  of  saccharin  supply  the 
place  of  forty  pounds  of  sugar. 

Two  yekdans  contain  my  stores,  cooking  and  table  uten- 
sils and  personal  luggage,  a  waterproof  bag  my  bedding, 
and  a  divided  packing-case,  now  empty,  goes  for  the  flour 
and  rice.  Everything  in  the  yekdans  is  put  up  in  bags 
made  of  the  coarse  cotton  of  the  country.  The  tents  and 
tent-poles,  which  have  been  socketed  for  easier  transport 
on  crooked  mountain  paths,  and  a  camp-bed  made  from 
a  Kashmiri  pattern  in  Tihran,  are  all  packed  in  covers 
made  from  the  gunny  bags  in  which  sugar  is  imported, 

1  I  never  returned,  and  only  at  the  end  of  three  and  a  half  months 
emerged  from  the  "Bakhtiari  country"  at  Burujird  after  a  journey  of 
700  miles. 


LETTER  xiv    PREPARATIONS  FOR  DEPARTURE  283 

and   so   are   double  sets  of  large  and  small   iron   tent- 
pegs. 

Presents  for  the  "  savages "  are  also  essential,  and  I 
have  succeeded  in  getting  100  thimbles,  many  gross 
of  small  china  buttons  which,  it  is  said,  they  like  to  sew 
on  children's  caps,  1000  needles,  a  quantity  of  Russian 
thread,  a  number  of  boxes  with  mirror  tops,  two  dozen 
double-bladed  knives,  and  the  same  number  of  strong 
scissors,  Kashmir  kamarbands,  gay  handkerchiefs  for 
women's  heads,  Isfahan  printed  "  table-cloths,"  dozens  of 
bead  bracelets  and  necklaces,  leather  purses  and  tobacco 
pouches,  and  many  other  things. 

I  take  three  tents,  including  a  shuldari,  five  feet 
square,  and  only  weighing  ten  pounds.  My  kit  is  reduced 
Ho  very  simple  elements,  a  kettle,  two  copper  pots  which 
fit  into  each  other,  a  frying  pan,  cooking  knife  and  spoon, 
a  tray  instead  of  a  table,  a  chair,  two  plates,  a  teacup  and 
saucer,  a  soup  plate,  mug,  and  teapot,  all  of  course  in 
enamelled  iron,  a  knife,  fork,  and  two  spoons.  This  is 
ample  for  one  person  for  any  length  of  time  in  camp. 

For  this  amount  of  baggage  and  for  the  sacks  of  flour 
and  rice,  weighing  160  Ibs.,  which  will  hereafter  be 
carried,  I  have  four  mules,  none  heavily  laden,  and  two 
with  such  light  loads  that  they  can  be  ridden  by  my 
servants.  These  mules,  two  charvadars,  and  a  horse  are 
engaged  for  the  journey  at  two  krans  (16d.)  a  day  each, 
the  owner  stipulating  for  a  bakhsheesh  of  fifty  krans,  if  at 
the  end  I  am  satisfied.  This  sum  is  to  cover  food  and 
all  risks. 

The  animals  are  hired  from  a  well-known  charvadar, 
who  has  made  a  large  fortune  and  is  regarded  as  very 
trustworthy;  Dr.  Bruce  calls  him  the  "prince  of 
charvadars"  He  and  his  son  are  going  on  the  "trip." 
He  has  a  quiet,  superior  manner,  and  when  he  came  to 
judge  of  the  weight  of  my  loads,  he  said  they  were 


284  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xiv 

"  very  good — very  right,"  a  more  agreeable  verdict  than 
muleteers  are  wont  to  pass  upon  baggage.1 

The  making  of  the  contract  with  Hadji  involved  two 
important  processes,  the  writing  of  it  by  a  scribe  and 
the  sealing  of  it  The  scribe  is  one  of  the  most 
important  persons  in  Persia.  Every  great  man  has  one 
or  more,  and  every  little  man  has  occasion  for  a  scribe's 
services  in  the  course  of  a  year.  He  is  the  trusted 
depositary  of  an  infinity  of  secrets.  He  moves  with 
dignity  and  deliberation,  his  "  writer's  inkhorn  "  pendent 
from  his  girdle,  and  his  physiognomy  has  been  trained 
to  that  reticent,  semi -mysterious  expression  common  to 
successful  solicitors  in  England. 

Writing  is  a  fine  art  in  Persia.  The  characters  are 
in  themselves  graceful,  and  lend  themselves  readily  to 
decoration.  The  old  illuminated  MSS.  are  things  of 
beaXity ;  even  my  contract  is  ornamental  The  scribe 
holds  the  paper  in  his  left  hand,  and  uses  a  reed 
pen  with  the  nib  cut  obliquely,  writing  from  right  to 
left.  The  ink  is  thick,  and  is  carried  with  the  pens  in 
a  papur-macM  inkhorn. 

Hadji  tells  me  with  much  pride  that  his  son,  Abbas 
Ali,  can  write  "  and  will  be  very  useful" 

Sealing  is  instead  of  signing.  As  in  Japan,  every 
adult  male  has  his  seal,  of  agate  or  cornelian  among  the 
rich,  and  of  brass  or  silver  among  the  poor.  The  name 
is  carefully  engraved  on  the  seal  at  a  cost  of  from  a  half- 

1  Hadji  Hussein  deserves  a  passing  recommendation.  I  fear  that  he 
is  still  increasing  his  fortune  and  has  not  retired.  The  journey  was  a 
very  severe  one,  full  of  peril  to  his  mules  from  robbers  and  dangerous 
roads,  and  not  without  risk  to  himself.  With  the  exception  of  a  few 
Orientalisms,  which  are  hardly  worth  recalling,  he  was  faithful  and  up- 
right, made  no  attempt  to  overreach,  kept  to  his  bargain,  was  punctual 
and  careful,  and  at  Burujird  we  parted  good  friends.  He  was  always  most 
respectful  to  me,  and  I  owe  him  gratitude  for  many  kindnesses  which  in- 
creased my  comfort.  It  is  right  to  acknowledge  that  a  part  of  the  success 
of  the  journey  was  owing  to  the  efficiency  of  the  transport. 


LETTER  xiv  A  MEDICAL  OUTFIT  285 

penny  to  18s.  a  letter.     Tihran  is  celebrated  for  its  seal- 
cutters.     No  document  is  authentic  without  a  seal  as  its 


signature. 


Hadji  took  the  contract  and  applied  it  to  his  fore- 
head in  token  of  respect,  touched  the  paper  with  his 
tongue  to  make  it  moist  and  receptive,  waved  it  in  the 
air  to  rid  it  of  superfluous  moisture,  wetted  his  fingers  on 
a  spongy  ball  of  silk  full  of  Indian  ink  in  the  scribe's 
inkstand,  rubbed  the  ink  on  the  seal,  breathed  on  it,  and 
pressed  it  firmly  down  on  the  paper,  which  he  held  over 
the  forefinger  of  his  left  hand.  The  smallest  acts  in 
Persia  are  regulated  by  rigid  custom. 

The  remaining  portion  of  my  outfit,  but  not  the  least 
^important,  consists  of  a  beautiful  medicine  chest  of  the 
most  compact  and  portable  make,  most  kindly  given  to 
me  by  Messrs.  Burroughes  and  Wellcome,  containing  fifty 
small  bottles  of  their  invaluable  "  tabloids,"  a  hypodermic 
syringe,  and  surgical  instruments  for  simple  cases.  To 
these  I  have  added  a  quantity  of  quinine,  and  Dr. 
Odling  at  Tihran  gave  me  some  valuable  remedies.  A 
quantity  of  bandages,  lint,  absorbent  cotton,  etc.,  completes 
this  essential  equipment.  Among  the  many  uncertainties 
of  the  future  this  appears  certain,  that  the  Bakhtiaris  will 
be  clamorous  for  European  medicine. 

I  have  written  of  my  servants.  Mirza  Yusuf  pleases 
me  very  much,  Hassan  the  cook  seems  quiet,  but  not 
active,  and  I  picture  to  myself  the  confusion  of  to-night 
in  camp,  with  two  men  who  know  nothing  about  camp 
life  and  its  makeshifts ! 

Whatever  the  summer  brings,  this  is  probably  my  last 
letter  written  from  under  a  roof  till  next  winter.  I  am 
sorry  to  leave  Julfa  and  these  kind  friends,  but  the 
prospect  of  the  unknown  has  its  charms.  I.  L.  B. 


286  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA 


NOTES  ON  THE  "BAKHTIARI  COUNTRY"  OR 
LURI-BUZURG 

IN  introducing  the  following  journal  of  a  summer  spent 
in  Luri-Buzurg  or  Greater  Luristan  by  a  few  explanatory 
notes,  I  desire  to  acknowledge  the  labours  of  those 
travellers  who  have  preceded  me  over  some  of  the 
earlier  portions  of  the  route,  and  my  obligations  to  those 
careful  explorers  of  half  a  century  ago,  who  turned  the 
light  of  modern  research  upon  the  antiquities  of  Lower 
Elam  and  the  condition  of  its  modern  inhabitants,  and 
whose  earnestness  and  accuracy  the  traveller  in  Upper 
Elam  and  the  Bakhtiari  country  may  well  desire  to 
emulate.1 

For  the  correction  of  those  portions  of  my  letters 
which  attempt  to  describe  a  part  of  mountainous 
Luristan  previously  unexplored,  I  am  deeply  indebted 

1  The  writers  who  have  dealt  with  some  of  the  earlier  portions  of 
my  route  are  as  follows :  Henry  Blosse  Lynch,  Esq.,  Across  Luristan  to 
Ispahan— Proceedings  of  the  R.  O.  Si,  September  1890.  Colonel  M.  S. 
Bell,  V.C.,  A  Visit  to  the  Karun  River  and  Kum — Blackwootfs  Magazine, 
April  1889.  Colonel  J.  A.  Bateman  Champain,  RE.,  On  the  Various 
Means  of  Communication  between  Central  Persia  and  the  Sea — Proceedings 
of  the  R.  G.  S.,  March  1883.  Colonel  H.  L.  Wells,  R.E.,  Surveying 
Tours  in  South- Western  Persia — Proceedings  of  R,  G.  S.,  March  1883. 
Mr.  Stack,  Six  Months  in  Persia,  London,  1884.  Mr.  Mackenzie,  Speech, — 
Proceedings  of  R.  G.  S.,  March  1883.  The  following  among  other  writers 
have  dealt  with  the  condition  of  the  Bakhtiari  and  Feili  Lurs,  and  with  the 
geography  of  the  region  to  the  west  and  south-west  of  the  continuation  of 
the  great  Zagros  chain,  termed  in  these  notes  the  "  Outer  "  and  "  Inner" 


BAKHTIARI  THE  UPPER  KARUN  287 

to  a  recent  unpublished  Geographical  Report,  to  which 
any  geographical  interest  which  they  may  possess  is 
altogether  due.  For  the  customs  and  beliefs  of  the 
Bakhtiaris  I  have  had  to  depend  entirely  on  my  own 
investigations,  made  through  an  intelligent  and  faith- 
ful interpreter,  whose  desire  for  accuracy  was  scarcely 
exceeded  by  my  own. 

The  accompanying  sketch  map  represents  an  area  of 
15,000  square  miles,  lying,  roughly  speaking,  between 
Lat.  31°  and  34°  N.,  and  between  Long.  48°  and  51° 
E.,  and  covering  a  distance  of  300  miles  from  the  Khana 
Mirza  to  Khuramabad. 

The  itinerary  covers  a  distance  of  about  700  miles,  a 
rney  of  three  and  a  half  months,  chiefly  in  the  region 
of   the    Upper    Karun    and    its   affluents,  among  which 
must  be  included  the  head-waters  of  the  Ab-i-Diz. 

During  this  time  the  Karun  was  traced,  wherever 
the  nature  of  its  bed  admitted  of  it,  from  the  gorge  of 
Dupulan,  below  which  several  travellers  have  investigated 
and  reported  its  extraordinary  windings,  up  to  the  Sar- 
Cheshmeh-i-Kurang,  its  reputed  scource,  a  vigorous 
fountain  spring  with  an  altitude  of  8000  feet  in  the 
steep  limestone  face  of  the  north-eastern  side  of  the 
Zard  Kuh  range,  and  upwards  to  its  real  source  in  the 
Kuh-i-Ifang  or  "  variegated  mountain." 

The  Ab-i-Diz  was  found  to  carry  off  the  water  of  a 
larger  area  than  had  been  supposed ;  the  north-west 

ranges  of  the  Bakhtiari  mountains,  their  routes  touching  those  of  the 
present  writer  at  Khuramabad  :  Sir  H.  Rawlinson,  Notes  of  a  March  from 
Zohab  to  Khuzistan  in  1836— Journal  of  the  K.G.S.,  vol.  ix.,  1839.  Sir 
A.  H.  Layard,  Early  Adventures  in  Persia,  Susiana,  and  Babylonia,  includ- 
ing a  residence  among  the  Bakhtiari  and  other  wild  tribes,  2  vols.,  London, 
1887.  Baron  C.  A.  de  Bode,  Travels  in  Luristan  and  Arabistan,  2  vols., 
London,  1845.  W.  F.  Ainsworth  (Surgeon  and  Geologist  to  the  Euph- 
rates Expedition),  The  River  Karun,  London,  1890.  General  Schindler 
travelled  over  and  described  the  Isfahan  and  Shuster  route,  and  pub- 
lished a  map  of  the  country  in  1884. 


288  JOl'KNT.Ys  IN  PERSIA  HOTBS 

branches,  the  Ab-i-Burujird  and  the  Kamandab,  which 
drain  the  well-watered  plain  of  Silakhor,  almost  yielding 
in  importance  to  the  Guwa  and  Gokun,  which,  uniting 
to  form  what,  for  convenience'  sake,  was  termed  the 
Ab-i-Basnoi,  receive  the  drainage  of  the  upper  part  of 
Faraidan,  an  important  district  of  Persia  proper. 

A  lake  of  marvellously  coloured  water,  two  and  a  half 
miles  long  by  one  mile  wide,  very  deep,  and  with  a 
persistent  level,  was  found  to  occupy  a  hollow  at  the 
inner  foot  of  the  grand  mountain  Shuturun,  and  tin-. 
having  no  native  name,  was  marked  on  the  map  as  Lake 
Irene. 

The  Bakhtiari  mountains  are  chains  of  precipitous 
parallel  ranges,  generally  running  north-west  and  south- 
east, the  valleys  which  divide  them  and  carry  off  their 
waters  taking  the  same  directions  as  far  as  the  Kuh-i-Rang, 
where  a  remarkable  change  takes  place,  noticed  in  Letter 
XVII.  This  great  mountain  region,  lying  between  the 
lofty  plateau  of  Central  Persia  and  the  plains  of  Khuzis- 
tan,  has  continuous  ranges  of  singular  steepness,  but 
rarely  broken  up  into  prominent  peaks,  the  Kuh-i-Rang, 
the  Kuh-i-Shahan,  the  Shuturun  Kuh,  and  Dalonak  being 
detached  mountains. 

The  great  ranges  of  the  Kuh-i-Sukhta,  the  Kuh-i- 
Gerra,  the  Sabz  Kuh,  the  Kala  Kuh,  and  the  Zard  Kuh 
were  crossed  and  recrossed  by  passes  from  8000  to 
11,000  feet  in  altitude;  many  of  the  summits  were 
ascended,  and  the  deep  valleys  between  them,  with  their 
full -watered,  peacock -green  streams,  were  followed  up 
wherever  it  was  possible  to  do  so.  The  magnificent 
mountain  Kuh-i-Rang  was  ascertained  to  be  not  only  a 
notable  water-parting,  but  to  indicate  in  a  very  marked 
manner  two  distinct  mountain  systems  with  remarkable 
peculiarities  of  drainage,  as  well  as  to  form  a  colossal 
barrier  between  two  regions  which,  for,  the  sake  of 


BAKHTIARI       PECULIARITIES  OF  FORMATION  289 

intelligible  description,  were  called  "Upper  Elam"  and 
the  "  Bakhtiari  country." 

The  same  authority,  for  the  same  purpose,  desig- 
nated the  two  main  and  highest  chains  of  mountains 
by  the  terms  "  Outer  "  and  "  Inner  "  ranges,  the  former 
being  the  one  nearest  the  great  Persian  plateau,  the  latter 
the  chain  nearest  to  the  Khuzistan  plains.  The  con- 
jectural altitudes  of  the  peaks  in  this  hitherto  unexplored 
region  have  been  brought  down  by  some  thousands  of 
feet,  and  the  "  eternal  snow "  with  which  rumour  had 
crested  them  has  turned  out  a  myth,  the  altitude  of  the 
highest  summit  being  estimated  at  only  a  trifle  over 
13,000  feet 

The  nearly  continuous  ranges  south-east  of  the  Kuh- 
i-Kang  are  pierced  for  the  passage  of  water  by  a  few 
remarkable  rifts  or  tangs — the  Outer  range  by  the  Tang- 
i-Ghezi,  the  outlet  of  the  Zainderud  towards  Isfahan,  and 
the  Tang-i-Darkash  Warkash,  by  which  the  drainage  of 
the  important  districts  of  the  Chahar  Mahals  passes  to 
the  Karun,  the  Inner  range  being  pierced  at  the  Tang-i- 
Dupulan  by  the  Karun  itself.  North-west  of  the  Kuh- 
i-Itang  the  rivers  which  carry  the  drainage  of  certain 
districts  of  south-west  Persia  to  the  sea  pierce  the  main 
mountain  ranges  at  right  angles,  passing  through  magni- 
ficent gorges  and  chasms  from  3000  to  5000  feet  in 
depth. 

Among  the  mountains,  but  especially  in  the  formation 
south-east  of  the  Kuh-i-Eang,  there  are  many  alpine 
valleys  at  altitudes  of  from  7000  to  8500  feet,  rich 
summer  pastures,  such  as  Gurab,  Chigakhor,  Shorab,  and 
Cheshmeh  Zarin. 

Some  of  the  valleys  are  of  considerable  width,  many 
only  afford  room  for  narrow  tracks  above  the  streams 
by  which  they  are  usually  watered,  while  others  are 
mere  rifts  for  torrents  and  are  inaccessible.  Among  the 

VOL.  I  U 


-no  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA 

limestone  ranges  fountain  springs  are  of  frequent  occur- 
rence, gushing  out  of  the  mountain  sides  with  great 
volume  and  impetuosity — the  perennial  sources  of  per- 
ennial streams. 

Much  of  the  country  is  absolutely  without  wood,  pro- 
ducing nothing  fit  even  for  fuel  but  the  Astragalus  rents 
and  the  Astragalus  tragacaniha.  This  is  especially  the  case 
on  the  outer  slopes  of  the  Outer  range,  which  are  formed 
of  rocky  ribs  with  a  covering  of  gravel,  and  are  "  barren, 
treeless,  waterless,  and  grassless."  From  the  same  crest 
to  the  outer  slopes  of  the  Inner  range,  which  descend  on 
Khuzistan,  there  are  splendid  pasturage,  abundant  water, 
and  extensive  forests  in  the  deep  valleys  and  on  the  hill 
slopes.1 

The  trees,  however,  can  rarely  be  defined  as  "  forest 
trees."  They  are  small  in  girth  and  are  usually  stunted 
and  wizened  in  aspect,  as  if  the  conditions  of  their  exist- 
ence were  not  kindly. 

Flowers  are  innumerable  in  the  months  of  May  and 
June,  beginning  with  the  tulip,  the  iris,  the  narcissus,  and 
a  small  purple  gladiolus,  and  a  little  later  many  of  the 
hillsides  above  an  altitude  of  7000  feet  are  aflame  with 
a  crimson  and  terra-cotta  frUHlaria  imperialis,  and  a 
carnation-red  anemone,  while  the  margins  of  the  snow- 
fields  are  gay  with  pink  patches  of  an  exquisite  alpine 
primula.  Chicory,  the  dark  blue  centaurea,  a  large  orange 
and  yellow  snapdragon,  and  the  scarlet  poppy  attend 
upon  grain  crops  there  as  elsewhere,  and  the  slopes  above 
the  upper  Karun  are  brilliant  with  pink,  mauve,  and 

1  Among  the  trees  and  shrubs  to  be  met  with  are  an  oak  (Quercu* 
ballota),  which  supplies  the  people  with  acorn  flour,  the  Platanus  and 
Tamariscus  oruntalis,  the  jujube  tree,  two  species  of  elm,  a  dwarf  tama- 
risk, poplar,  four  species  of  willow,  the  apple,  pear,  cherry,  plum,  walnut, 
gooseberry,  almond,  dogwood,  hawthorn,  ash,  lilac,  alder,  Paliums  and- 
eatus,  rose,  bramble,  honeysuckle,  hop  vine,  grape  vine,  Clematis  orien- 
talis,  Juniperus  excelsa,  and  hornbeam. 


BAKHTIARI  ECONOMIC  PLANTS  291 

white  hollyhocks.  But  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  chief 
interest  of  many  of  the  flowers  is  botanical  only.  They 
are  leathery,  woolly,  thorny,  and  sticky,  adapted  rather 
for  arid  circumstances  than  to  rejoice  the  eye. 

Among  the  economic  plants  observed  were  the  Cen- 
taurea  alata,  which  grows  in  singular  abundance  at  a 
height  of  from  5500  to  VOOO  feet,  and  is  cut  and  stacked 
for  fodder;  a  species  of  celery  of  very  strong  flavour, 
which  is  an  important  article  of  food  for  man  and  beast, 
and  the  flower-stalks  of  which,  six  feet  high,  are  woven  into 
booths  by  some  of  the  tribes  ;  the  blue  liuum,  red  madder, 
the  eryngium  cceruleum,  which  is  cut  and  stacked  for 
fodder ;  a  purple  garlic,  the  bulbs  of  which  are  eaten ; 
liquorice,  and  the  Ferula  asafetida  in  small  quantities. 

It  is  a  surprise  to  the  traveller  to  find  that  a  large 
area  is  under  cultivation,  and  that  the  crops  of  wheat  and 
barley  are  clean,  and  up  to  the  Persian  average,  and  that 
the  removal  of  stones  and  a  laborious  irrigation  system 
are  the  work  of  nomads  who  only  occupy  their  yailaks 
for  five  months  of  the  year.  It  may  be  said  that  nearly 
every  valley  and  hill-slope  where  water  is  procurable  is 
turned  to  account  for  grain  crops. 

No  part  of  the  world  in  this  latitude  is  fuller  of 
streams  and  torrents,  but  three  only  attain  to  any  geo- 
graphical dignity — the  Zainderud,  or  river  of  Isfahan, 
which  after  a  course  full  of  promise  loses  itself  ignomini- 
ously  in  a  partially-explored  swamp ;  the  Karun,  with  its 
Bakhtiari  tributaries  of  the  Ab-i-Bazuft,  the  Darkash 
Warkash,  the  Ab-i-Sabzu,  and  the  Dinarud ;  and  the  Ab-i- 
Diz,  which  has  an  important  course  of  its  own  before  its 
junction  with  the  Karun  at  Bandakir.  None  of  these 
rivers  are  navigable  during  their  course  through  the 
Bakhtiari  mountains.  They  are  occasionally  spanned  by 
bridges  of  stone  or  wickerwork,  or  of  yet  simpler  con- 
struction. 


292  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  NOTES 

With  the  exception  of  the  small  area  of  the  Outer 
range,  which  contains  the  head-waters  of  the  Zainderud, 
the  Bakhtiari  country  proper  consists  of  the  valleys  of 
the  upper  Kanin  and  its  tributaries. 

The  tracks  naturally  follow  the  valleys,  and  are  fairly 
easy  in  their  gradients  to  the  south-east  of  the  Kuh-i-Kang. 
To  the  north-west,  however,  being  compelled  to  cross 
rivers  which  pierce  the  ranges  at  right  angles  to  their 
directions,  ascents  and  descents  of  several  thousand  feet 
are  involved  at  short  intervals,  formed  of  rock  ladders, 
which  may  be  regarded  as  "  impassable  for  laden  animals." 

The  so-called  roads  are  nothing  better  than  tracks 
worn  in  the  course  of  centuries  by  the  annual  passage  of 
the  nomads  and  their  flocks  to  and  from  their  summer 
pastures.  In  addition  to  the  tracks  which  follow  the  lie 
of  the  valleys,  footpaths  cross  the  main  ranges  where 
foothold  can  be  obtained. 

There  are  but  two  bridle  tracks  which  deserve  mention 
as  being  possible  for  caravan  traffic  between  Isfahan  and 
Shuster,  one  crossing  the  God-i-Murda  at  a  height  of 
7050  feet  and  the  Karun  at  Dupulan,  the  other,  which 
considerably  diminishes  the  distance  between  the  two 
commercial  points,  crossing  the  Zard  Kuh  by  the  Cherri 
Pass  at  an  altitude  of  9550  feet  and  dropping  down 
a  steep  descent  of  over  4000  feet  to  the  Bazuft  river. 
These,  the  Gurab,  and  the  Gil- i- Shah,  and  Pambakal 
Passes,  which  cross  the  Zard  Kuh  range  at  elevations  of 
over  11,000  feet,  are  reported  as  closed  by  snow  for 
several  months  in  winter.  In  view  of  the  cart-road  from 
Ahwaz  to  Tihran,  which  will  pass  through  the  gap  of 
Khuramabad,  the  possible  importance  of  any  one  of  these 
routes  fades  completely  away. 

The  climate,  though  one  of  extremes,  is  healthy. 
Maladies  of  locality  are  unknown,  the  water  is  usually 
pure,  and  malarious  swamps  do  not  exist  Salt  springs 


BAKHTIARI     TRACES  OF  FORMER  CIVILISATION  293 

produce  a  sufficiency  of  salt  for  wholesome  use,  and 
medicinal  plants  abound.  The  heat  begins  in  early  June 
and  is  steady  till  the  end  of  August,  the  mercury  risin^ 
to  102°  in  the  shade  at  altitudes  of  7000  feet,  but  it  is 
rarely  oppressive ;  the  nights  are  cool,  and  greenery  and 
abounding  waters  are  a  delightful  contrast  to  the  arid 
hills  and  burning  plains  of  Persia.  The  rainfall  is 
scarcely  measurable,  the  snowfall  is  reported  as  heavy, 
and  the  winter  temperatures  are  presumably  low. 

There  are  few  traces  of  a  past  history,  and  the  legends 
connected  with  the  few  are  too  hazy  to  be  of  any  value, 
but  there  are  remains  of  bridges  of  dressed  stone,  and  of 
at  least  one  ancient  road,  which  must  have  been  trodden 
oy  the  soldiers  of  Alexander  the  Great  and  Valerian,  and 
it  is  not  impossible  that  the  rude  forts  here  and  there 
which  the  tribesmen  attribute  to  mythical  heroes  of  their 
own  race  may  have  been  built  to  guard  Greek  or  Eoman 
communications. 

The  geology,  entomology,  and  zoology  of  the  Bakhtiari 
country  have  yet  to  be  investigated.  In  a  journey  of 
three  months  and  a  half  the  only  animals  seen  were  a 
bear  and  cubs,  a  boar,  some  small  ibex,  a  blue  hare,  and 
some  jackals.  Francolin  are  common,  and  storks  were 
seen,  but  scarcely  any  other  birds,  and  bees  and  butterflies 
are  rare.  It  is  the  noxious  forms  of  animated  life  which 
are  abundant.  There  are  snakes,  some  of  them  venomous, 
a  venomous  spider,  and  a  stinging  beetle,  and  legions  of 
black  flies,  mosquitos,  and  sand-flies  infest  many  localities. 

This  area  of  lofty  ranges,  valleys,  gorges,  and  alpine 
pasturages  is  inhabited  by  the  Bakhtiari  Lurs,  classed 
with  the  savage  or  semi-savage  races,  who,  though  they 
descend  to  the  warmer  plains  in  the  winter,  invariably 
speak  of  these  mountains  as  "  their  country."  On  this 
journey  nearly  all  the  tribes  were  visited  in  their  own 
encampments,  and  their  arrangements,  modes  of  living, 


294  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  NOTES 

customs,  and  beliefs  were  subjects  of  daily  investigation, 
the  results  of  which  are  given  in  the  letters  which 
follow. 

Their  own  very  hazy  traditions,  which  are  swift  to 
lose  themselves  in  the  fabulous,  represent  that  they  came 
from  Syria,  under  one  chief,  and  took  possession  of  the 
country  which  they  now  inhabit.  A  later  tradition  states 
that  a  descendant  of  this  chief  had  two  wives  equally 
beloved,  one  of  whom  had  four  sons,  and  the  other 
seven ;  and  that  after  their  father's  death  the  young  men 
quarrelled,  separated,  and  bequeathed  their  quarrel  to 
posterity,  the  seven  brothers  forming  the  Haft  Lang 
division  of  the  Bakhtiaris,  and  the  four  the  Chahar  Lan-j.1 

The  Haft  Lang,  though  originally  far  superior  in 
numbers,  weakened  their  power  by  their  unending 
internal  conflicts,  and  in  1840,  when  Sir  A.  H.  Layard 
visited  a  part  of  Luristan  not  embraced  in  this  route,  and 
sojourned  at  Kala-i-Tul,  the  power  and  headship  of 
Mehemet  Taki  Khan,  the  great  chief  of  their  rivals  the 
Chahar  Lang,  were  recognised  throughout  the  region. 

The  misfortunes  which  came  upon  him  overthrew  the 
supremacy  of  his  clan,  and  now  (as  for  some  years  past) 
the  Haft  Lang  supply  the  ruling  dynasty,  the  Chahar 
Lang  being,  however,  still  strong  enough  to  decide  any 
battles  for  the  chieftainship  which  may  be  fought  among 
their  rivals.  Time,  and  a  stronger  assertion  of  the 
sovereignty  of  Persia,  have  toned  the  feud  down  into  a 
general  enmity  and  aversion,  but  the  tribes  of  the  two 
septs  rarely  intermarry,  and  seldom  encamp  near  each 
other  without  bloodshed. 

The  great  divisions  of  the  Bakhtiaris,  the  Haft  Lang, 
the  Chahar  Lang,  and  the  Dinarunis,  with  the  dependencies 
of  the  Janiki  Gannsir,  the  Janiki  Sardsir,  and  the 
Afshar  tribe  of  Gunduzlu,  remain  as  they  were  half  a 

1  In  Persian  haft  is  seven,  and  chahar  four. 


BAKHTIARI  THE  BAKHTIARI  LURS  295 

century  ago,  when  they  were  the  subject  of  careful  investi- 
gation by  Sir  A.  H.  Layard  and  Sir  H.  Rawlinson. 

The  tribes  (as  enumerated  by  several  of  the  Khans 
without  any  divergence  in  their  statements)  number 
29,100  families,  an  increase  in  the  last  half  -  century. 
Taking  eight  to  a  household,  which  I  believe  to  be  a 
fair  estimate,  a  population  of  232,800  would  be  the 
result1 

A  few  small  villages  of  mud  hovels  at  low  altitudes 
are  tenanted  by  a  part  of  their  inhabitants  throughout 
the  winter,  the  other  part  migrating  with  the  bulk  of  the 
flocks;  and  3000  families  of  the  two  great  Janiki 
divisions  are  deh-nishins  or  "  dwellers  in  cities,"  i.e.  they 
il« i  not  migrate  at  all;  but  the  rest  are  nomads,  that  is, 
they  have  winter  camping-grounds  in  the  warm  plains  of 
Khuzistan  and  elsewhere,  and  summer  pastures  in  the 
region  of  the  Upper  Karun  and  its  affluents,  making  two 
annual  migrations  between  their  garmsirs  and  sardsirs 
(hot  and  cold  quarters). 

Though  a  pastoral  people,  they  have  (as  has  been 
referred  to  previously)  of  late  years  irrigated,  stoned,  and 
cultivated  a  number  of  their  valleys,  sowing  in  the  early 
autumn,  leaving  the  crops  for  the  winter  and  early 
spring,  and  on  their  return  weeding  them  very  carefully 
till  harvest-time  in  July. 

They  live  on  the  produce  of  their  flocks  and  herds,  on 
leavened  cakes  made  of  wheat  and  barley  flour,  and  on  a 
paste  made  of  acorn  flour. 

In  religion  they  are  fanatical  Moslems  of  the  Shiah 
sect,  but  combine  relics  of  nature  worship  with  the  tenets 
of  Islam. 

The  tribes,  which  were  to  a  great  extent  united  under 

1  This  computation  is  subject  to  correction.  Various  considerations 
dispose  the  Ilkhani  and  the  other  Khans  to  minimise  or  magnify  the 
population.  It  has  been  stated  at  from  107,000  to  275,000  souls,  and  by 
a  "high  authority"  to  different  persons  as  107,000  and  211,000  souls! 


J:M;  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  VOOfl 

the  judicious  and  ambitious  policy  of  Mehemet  Taki 
Khan  and  Hussein  Kuli  Khan,  nominally  acknowledge 
one  feudal  head,  the  Ilkhani,  who  is  associated  in  power 
with  another  chief  called  the  Ilbegi.  The  Ilkhani,  who 
is  appointed  by  the  Shah  for  a  given  period,  capable  of 
indefinite  extension,  is  responsible  for  the  tribute,  which 
amounts  to  about  two  tnmans  a  household,  and  for  the 
good  order  of  Luri-Buzurg. 

The  Bakhtiaris  are  good  horsemen  and  marksmen. 
Possibly  in  inter-tribal  war  from  10,000  to  12,000  men 
might  take  the  field,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  more 
than  from  6000  to  8000  could  be  relied  on  in  an 
external  quarrel. 

The  Khan  of  each  tribe  is  practically  its  despotic 
ruler,  and  every  tribesman  is  bound  to  hold  himself  at 
his  disposal. 

As  concerns  tribute,  they  are  under  the  government  of 
Isfahan,  with  the  exception  of  three  tribes  and  a  half, 
which  are  under  the  government  of  Burujird. 

They  are  a  warlike  people,  and  though  more  peaceable 
than  formerly,  they  cherish  blood-feuds  and  are  always 
fighting  among  themselves.  Their  habits  are  predatory 
by  inclination  and  tradition,  but  they  have  certain 
notions  of  honour  and  of  regard  to  pledges  when 
voluntarily  given.1 

They  deny  Persian    origin,  but    speak   a    dialect   of 

1  Sir.  H.  Rawlinson  sums  up  Bakhtiari  character  in  these  very  severe 
words:  "I  believe  them  to  be  individually  brave,  but  of  a  cruel  and 
savage  character  ;  they  pursue  their  blood-feuds  with  the  most  inveterate 
and  exterminating  spirit,  and  they  consider  no  oath  or  obligation  in  any 
way  binding  when  it  interferes  with  their  thirst  for  revenge  ;  indeed,  the 
dreadful  stories  of  domestic  tragedy  that  are  related,  in  which  whole 
families  have  fallen  by'each  other's  hands  (a  son,  for  instance,  having  slain 
his  father  to  obtain  the  chiefship — another  brother  having  avenged  the 
murder,  and  so  on,  till  only  one  individual  was  left),  are  enough  to  freeze 
the  blood  with  horror. 

"  It  is  proverbial  in  Persia  that  the  Bakhtiaris  have  been  obliged  to 


BAKHTIARI  THE  FEILI  LURS  297 

Persian.  Conquered  by  Nadir  Shah,  who  took  many 
of  them  into  his  service,  they  became  independent  after 
his  death,  until  the  reign  of  Mohammed  Shah.  Though 
tributary,  they  still  possess  a  sort  of  quasi  independence, 
though  Persia  of  late  years  has  tightened  her  grip  upon 
them,  and  the  Shah  keeps  many  of  their  influential 
families  in  Tihraii  and  its  neighbourhood  as  hostages  for 
the  good  behaviour  of  their  clans. 

Of  the  Feili  Lure,  the  nomads  of  Luri-Kushak  ,or  the 
Lesser  Luristan,  the  region  lying  between  the  Ab-i-Diz 
and  the  Assyrian  plains,  with  the  province  of  Kirmanshah 
to  the  north  and  Susiana  to  the  south,  little  was  seen. 
These  tribes  are  numerically  superior  to  the  Bakhtiaris. 
Fifty  years  ago,  according  to  Sir  H.  Rawlinson,  they 
numbered  56,000  families. 

They  have  no  single  feudal  chieftain  like  their 
neighbours,  nor  are  their  subdivisions  ruled,  as  among 
them,  by  powerful  Khans.  They  are  governed  by 
:  Tushmals  (lit.  "  master  of  a  house  ")  and  four  or  five  of 
these  are  associated  in  the  rule  of  every  tribal  subdivision. 
On  such  occasions  as  involve  tribal  well-being  or  the 
reverse,  these  Tushmals  consult  as  equals. 

Sir  H.  Rawlinson  considered  that  the  Feili  Lur  form  of 
government  is  very  rare  among  the  clan  nations  of  Asia, 
and  that  it  approaches  tolerably  near  to  the  spirit  of  a 
confederated  republic.  Their  language,  according  to  the 
same  authority,  differs  little  from  that  of  the  Kurds  of 
Kirmanshah. 

forego  altogether  the  reading  of  the  Fahiihah  or  prayer  for  the  dead,  for 
otherwise  they  would  have  no  other  occupation.  They  are  also  most 
dexterous  and  notorious  thieves.  Altogeher  they  may  be  considered  the 
most  wild  and  barbarous  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  Persia." — "Notes  on 
a  March  from  Zohab  to  Khuzistan,"  Jottrnal  of  the  K.G.S.,  vol.  ix. 
Probably  there  is  an  improvement  since  this  verdict  was  pronounced.  At 
all  events  I  am  inclined  to  take  a  much  more  favourable  view  of  the 
Bakhtiaris  than  has  been  given  in  the  very  interesting  paper  from  which 
this  quotation  is  made. 


Mfl  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  NOTES 

Unlike  the  Bakhtiaris,  they  neglect  agriculture,  l*ut 
they  breed  and  export  mules,  and  trade  in  carpets, 
charcoal,  horse-furniture,  and  sheep. 

In  faith  they  are  AH  Ilahis,  but  are  grossly  ignorant 
and  religiously  indifferent ;  they  show  scarcely  any  respect 
to  Mohammed  and  the  Koran,  and  combine  a  number  of 
ancient  superstitions  and  curious  sacrificial  rites  with  a 
deep  reverence  for  Sultan  Ibrahim,  who  under  the  name 
of  Bdl^d  Buzurg  (the  great  father)  is  worshipped  through- 
out  Luri-Kushak. 

For  the  tribute  payable  to  Persia  no  single  individual 
is  responsible.  The  sum  to  be  levied  is  distributed 
among  the  tribes  by  a  general  council,  after  which  each 
subdivision  apportions  the  amount  to  be  paid  by  the 
different  camps,  and  the  Risk-Sefid  (lit  gray-beard)  or 
head  of  each  encampment  collects  from  the  different 
families  according  to  their  means. 

The  task  of  the  Persian  tax-collector  is  a  difficult 
one,  for  the  tribes  are  in  a  state  of  chronic  turbulence, 
and  fail  even  in  obedience  to  their  own  general  council, 
and  the  collection  frequently  ends  in  an  incursion  of 
Persian  soldiers  and  a  Government  raid  on  the  flocks  and 
herds.  Many  of  these  people  are  miserably  poor,  and 
they  are  annually  growing  poorer  under  Persian  mal- 
administration. 

The  Feili  Lurs  are  important  to  England  commercially, 
because  the  cart-road  from  Ahwaz  to  Tihran,  to  be 
completed  within  two  years,  passes  partly  through  their 
country,1  and  its  success  as  the  future  trade  route  from 

1  A  report  to  the  Foreign  Office  (No.  207)  made  by  an  officer  who 
travelled  from  Khuramabad  to  Dizful  in  December  1890,  contains  the 
following  remarks  on  this  route. 

"As  to  the  danger  to  caravans  in  passing  through  these  hills,  I  am 
inclined  to  believe  that  the  Lurs  are  now  content  to  abandon  robbery  with 
violence  in  favour  of  payments  and  contributions  from  timid  traders  and 
travellers.  They  hang  upon  the  rear  of  a  caravan  ;  an  accident,  a  fallen  or 


BAKHTIARI         THE  CART-ROAD  TO  TIHRAN  299 

the  Gulf  depends  upon  their  good-will,  or  rather  upon  their 
successful  coercion  by  the  Persian  Government. 

strayed  pack  animal,  or  stragglers  in  difficulty  bring  them  to  the  spot,  and, 
on  the  pretence  of  assistance  given,  a  demand  is  made  for  money,  in  lieu 
of  which,  on  fear  or  hesitation  being  shown,  they  obtain  such  articles  as 
they  take  a  fancy  to. 

"  The  tribes  through  whose  limits  the  road  runs  hare  annual  allowances 
for  protecting  it,  bat  it  is  a  question  whether  these  are  regularly  paid.  It 
can  hardly  be  expected  that  the  same  system  of  deferred  and  reduced  pay- 
ments, which  unfortunately  prevails  in  the  Persian  public  service,  should 
be  accepted  patiently  by  a  starving  people,  who  have  long  been  given  to 
predatory  habits,  and  this  may  account  for  occasional  disturbance.  They 
probably  find  it  difficult  to  understand  why  payment  of  taxes  should  be 
mercilessly  exacted  upon  them,  while  their  allowances  remain  unpaid.  It 
is  generally  believed  that  they  would  take  readily  to  work  if  fairly  treated 
and  honestly  paid,  and  I  was  told  that  for  the  construction  of  the  pro- 
posed cart-road  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  getting  labourers  from  the 
neighbouring  Lur  tribes." 


300  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LFTTER  xiv 


LETTER  XIV 

EAHVA  RUKH,  CHAHAR  MAHALS,  May  4. 

I  LEFT  Julfa  on  the  afternoon  of  April  30,  with  Miss 
Bruce  as  my  guest  and  Mr.  Douglas  as  our  escort  for  the 
first  three  or  four  days.  The  caravan  was  sent  forward 
early,  that  my  inexperienced  servants  might  have  time  to 
pitch  the  tents  before  our  arrival. 

Green  and  pleasant  looked  the  narrow  streets  and 
walled  gardens  of  Julfa  under  a  blue  sky,  on  which  black 
clouds  were  heavily  massed  here  and  there ;  but  greenery 
was  soon  exchanged  for  long  lines  of  mud  ruins,  and  the 
great  gravelly  slopes  in  which  the  mountains  descend 
upon  the  vast  expanse  of  plain  which  surrounds  Isfahan, 
on  which  the  villages  of  low  mud  houses  are  marked  by 
dark  belts  of  poplars,  willows,  fruit-trees,  and  great 
patches  of  irrigated  and  cultivated  land,  shortly  to  take 
on  the  yellow  hue  of  the  surrounding  waste,  but  now 
beautifully  green. 

Passing  through  Pul-i-Wargun,  a  large  and  much 
wooded  village  on  the  Zainderud,  there  a  very  powerful 
stream,  affording  abundant  water  power,  scarcely  used,  we 
crossed  a  bridge  450  feet  long  by  twelve  feet  broad,  of 
eighteen  brick  arches  resting  on  stone  piers,  and  found  the 
camps  pitched  on  some  ploughed  land  by  a  stream,  and 
afternoon  tea  ready  for  the  friends  who  had  come  to 
give  us  what  Persians  call  "  a  throw  on  the  road."  I 
examined  my  equipments,  found  that  nothing  essential 


LKTTKB  xiv  THE  ZAINDERUD  301 

was  lacking,  initiated  my  servants  into  their  evening 
duties,  especially  that  of  tightening  tent  ropes  and  driving 
tent  pegs  well  in,  and  enjoyed  a  social  evening  in  the 
adjacent  camp. 

The  next  day's  journey,  made  under  an  unclouded  sky, 
was  mainly  along  the  Zainderud,  from  which  all  the 
channels  and  rills  which  nourish  the  vegetation  far  and 
near  are  taken.  A  fine,  strong,  full  river  it  is  there  and 
at  Isfahan  in  spring,  so  prolific  in  good  works  that  one 
regrets  that  it  should  be  lost  sixty  miles  east  of  Isfahan 
in  the  Gas-Khana,  an  unwholesome  marsh,  the  whole  of 
its  waters  disappearing  in  the  Kamr.  Many  large  villages 
with  imposing  pigeon-towers  lie  along  this  part  of  its 
course,  surrounded  with  apricot  and  walnut  orchards, 
wheat  and  poppy  fields,  every  village  an  oasis,  and  every 
oasis  a  paradise,  as  seen  in  the  first  flush  of  spring.  On 
a  slope  of  gravel  is  the  Bagh-i-Washi,  with  the  remains  of 
an  immense  enclosure,  where  the  renowned  Shah  Abbas 
is  said  to  have  had  a  menagerie.  Were  it  not  for  the 
beautiful  fringe  of  fertility  on  both  margins  of  the 
Zainderud  the  country  would  be  a  complete  waste.  The 
opium  poppy  is  in  bloom  now.  The  use  of  opium  in 
Persia  and  its  exportation  are  always  increasing,  and  as 
it  is  a  very  profitable  crop,  both  to  the  cultivators  and 
to  the  Government,  it  is  to  some  extent  superseding 
wheat. 

Leaving  the  greenery  we  turned  into  a  desert  of  gravel, 
crossed  some  low  hills,  and  in  the  late  afternoon  came 
down  upon  the  irrigated  lands  which  surround  the  large 
and  prosperous  village  of  Riz,  the  handsome  and  lofty 
pigeon-towers  of  which  give  it  quite  a  fine  appearance 
from  a  distance. 

These  pigeon-towers  are  numerous,  both  near  Isfahan 
and  in  the  villages  along  the  Zainderud,  and  are  every- 
where far  more  imposing  than  the  houses  of  the  people. 


302  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xiv 

Since  the  great  famine,  which  made  a  complete  end   of 
pigeon -keeping    for  the   time,  the  industry   has  u. 
assumed  its  former  proportions,  and  near  Julfa  many  of 
the  towers  are  falling  into  ruin. 

The  Riz  towers,  however,  are  in  good  repair.  They  are 
all  built  in  the  same  way,  varying  only  in  size  and  height, 
from  twenty  to  fifty  feet  in  diameter,  and  from  twenty- 
five  to  eighty  feet  from  base  to  summit  They  are 
"round  towers,"  narrowing  towards  the  top.  They  are 
built  of  sun-dried  bricks  of  local  origin,  costing  about  two 
krans  or  16d.  a  thousand,  and  are  decorated  with  rings 
of  yellowish  plaster,  with  coarse  arabesques  in  red  ochre 
upon  them.  For  a  door  there  is  an  opening  half-way  up, 
plastered  over  like  the  rest  of  the  wall 

Two  walls,  cutting  each  other  across  at  right  angles, 
divide  the  interior.  I  am  describing  from  a  ruined  tower 
which  was  easy  of  ingress.  The  sides  of  these  walls,  and 
the  whole  of  the  inner  surface  of  the  tower,  are  occupied 
by  pigeon  cells,  the  open  ends  of  which  are  about  twelve 
inches  square.  According  to  its  size  a  pigeon -tower 
may  contain  from  2000  to  7000,  or  even  8000,  pairs 
of  pigeons.  These  birds  are  gray-blue  in  colour. 

A  pigeon-tower  is  a  nuisance  to  the  neighbourhood, 
for  its  occupants,  being  totally  unprovided  for  by  their 
proprietor,  live  upon  their  neighbours'  fields.  In  former 
days  it  must  have  been  a  grand  sight  when  they 
returned  to  their  tower  after  the  day's  depredations. 
"  Who  are  these  that  fly  as  a  cloud,  and  as  the  doves  to 
their  windows  ?  "  probably  referred  to  a  similar  arrange- 
ment in  Palestine. 

The  object  of  the  towers  is  the  preservation  and 
collection  of  "  pigeon  guano,"  which  is  highly  prized  for 
the  raising  of  early  melons.  The  door  is  opened  once  a 
year  for  the  collection  of  this  valuable  manure.  A  large 
pigeon-tower  used  to  bring  its  owner  from  £60  to  £75 


LETTER  xiv         UNPLEASANT  EXPERIENCES  303 

per  annum,  but  a  cessation  of  the  great  demand  for  early 
melons  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Isfahan  has  prevented 
the  re-stocking  of  the  towers  since  the  famine. 

Our  experiences  of  Kiz  were  not  pleasant  One  of  the 
party  during  a  short  absence  from  his  tent  was  robbed  of 
a  very  valuable  scientific  instrument  After  that  there 
was  the  shuffling  sound  of  a  multitude  outside  the  tent 
in  which  Miss  Bruce  and  I  were  resting,  and  women 
concealed  from  head  to  foot  in  blue  and  white  checked 
sheets,  revealing  but  one  eye,  kept  lifting  the  tent 
curtain,  and  when  that  was  laced,  applying  the  one  eye 
to  the  spaces  between  the  lace-holes,  whispering  and 
tittering  all  the  time.  Hot  though  it  was,  their  persever- 
ing curiosity  prevented  any  ventilation,  and  the  steady 
gaze  of  single  eyes  here,  there,  and  everywhere  was  most 
exasperating.  It  was  impossible  to  use  the  dressing  tent, 
for  crowds  of  boys  assembled,  and  rows  of  open  mouths 
and  staring  eyes  appeared  between  the  fly  and  the 
ground.  Vainly  Miss  Bruce,  who  speaks  Persian  well 
and  courteously,  told  the  women  that  this  intrusion  on 
our  privacy  when  we  were  very  tired  was  both  rude  and 
unkind.  "  We're  only  women,"  they  said,  "  we  shouldn't 
mind  it,  we've  never  seen  so  many  Europeans  before." 
Sunset  ended  the  nuisance,  for  then  the  whole  crowd, 
having  fasted  since  sunrise,  hurried  home  for  food. 

The  great  fast  of  the  month  of  Ramazan  began  before 
we  left  Julfa.  Moslems  are  not  at  their  best  while  it 
lasts.  They  are  apt  to  be  crabbed  and  irritable ;  and 
everything  that  can  be  postponed  is  put  off  "  till  after 
Eamazan." 

Much  ostentation  comes  out  in  the  keeping  of  it ;  very 
pious  people  begin  to  fast  before  the  month  sets  in.  A 
really  ascetic  Moslem  does  not  even  swallow  his  saliva 
during  the  fast,  and  none  but  very  old  or  sick  people, 
children,  and  travellers,  are  exempt  from  the  obligation 


304  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xnr 

to  taste  neither  food  nor  water,  and  not  even  to  smoke 
during  daylight,  for  a  whole  month.  The  penance  is  a 
fearful  one,  and  as  the  night  is  the  only  time  for  feasting, 
the  Persians  get  through  as  much  of  the  day  as  possible 
in  sleep. 

Welcome  indeed  is  the  sunset  With  joy  men  fill 
their  pipes  and  drink  tea  as  a  prelude  to  the  meal  eaten 
an  hour  afterwards.  Hateful  is  the  dawn  and  the  cry 
an  hour  before  it,  "  Water  !  oh,  water  and  opium  !  " — the 
warning  to  the  faithful  to  drink  largely  and  swallow  an 
opium  pill  before  sunrise.  The  thirst  even  in  weather 
like  this,  and  the  abstention  from  smoking,  are  severer 
trials  than  the  fasting  from  food.  The  Persian  either 
lives  to  smoke,  or  smokes  to  live. 

Although  travellers  are  nominally  exempt  from  the 
fast  from  water  at  least,  pious  Moslems  do  not  avail 
themselves  of  the  liberty.  Hadji  Hussein,  for  instance,  is 
keeping  it  as  rigidly  as  any  one,  and,  like  some  others, 
marches  with  the  end  of  his  pagri  tucked  over  his 
mouth  and  nose,  a  religious  affectation,  supposed  to 
prevent  the  breaking  of  the  fast  by  swallowing  the 
animalculae  which  are  believed  to  infest  the  air! 

Beyond  Riz,  everywhere  there  are  arid  yellow  moun- 
tains and  yellow  gravelly  plains,  except  along  the  Zainderud, 
where  fruit-trees,  wheat,  and  the  opium  poppy  relieve  the 
eyes  from  the  glare.  We  took  leave  of  the  Zainderud 
at  Pul-i-Kala,  where  it  is  crossed  by  a  dilapidated  but 
passable  and  very  picturesque  stone  bridge  of  eight  arches, 
and  the  view  from  the  high  right  bank  of  wood,  bridge, 
and  the  vigorous  green  river  is  very  pretty. 

Little  enough  of  trees  or  greenery  have  we  seen  since. 
This  country,  like  much  of  the  great  Iranian  plateau,  con- 
sists of  high  mountains  with  broad  valleys  or  large  or 
small  plateaux  between  them,  absolutely  treeless,  and  even 
now  nearly  verdureless,  with  scattered  oases  wherever  a 


LETTER  xiv  PERSIAN  IRRIGATION  305 

possibility  of  procuring  water  by  means  of  laboriously- 
constructed  irrigation  canals  renders  cultivation  possible. 

Water  is  scarce  and  precious ;  its  value  may  be 
gathered  from  the  allusions  made  by  the  Persian  poets 
to  fountains,  cascades,  shady  pools,  running  streams,  and 
bubbling  springs.  Such  expressions  as  those  in  Scripture, 
"  rivers  of  waters,"  "  a  spring  of  water  whose  waters  fail 
not,"  convey  a  fulness  of  meaning  to  Persian  ears  of  which 
we  are  quite  ignorant  The  first  inquiry  of  a  Persian  about 
any  part  of  his  own  country  is,  "  Is  there  water  ?  "  the 
second,  "  Is  the  water  good  ? "  and  if  he  wishes  to  extol 
any  particular  region  he  says  "  the  water  is  abundant  all 
the  year,  and  is  sweet,  there  is  no  such  water  anywhere." 

The  position  of  a  village  is  always  determined  by  the 
water  supply,  for  the  people  have  not  only  to  think  of 
water  for  domestic  purposes,  but  for  irrigating  their  crops, 
and  this  accounts  for  the  packing  of  hamlets  on  steep 
mountain  sides  where  land  for  cultivation  can  only  be 
obtained  by  laborious  terracing,  but  where  some  perennial 
stream  can  be  relied  on  for  filling  the  small  canals. 
The  fight  for  water  is  one  of  the  hardest  necessities  of  the 
Persian  peasant  A  water  famine  of  greater  or  less  degree 
is  a  constant  peril. 

Land  in  Persia  is  of  three  grades,  the  wholly  irrigated, 
the  partially  irrigated,  and  the  "rain-lands,"  usually  up- 
lands, chiefly  suited  for  pasturage.  The  wholly  irrigated 
land  is  the  most  productive.  The  assessments  for  taxes 
appear  to  leave  altogether  out  of .  account  the  relative 
fertility  of  the  land,  and  to  be  calculated  solely  on  the 
supply  of  water.  A  winter  like  the  last,  of  heavy  snow, 
means  a  plenteous  harvest,  i.e.  "  twelve  or  fourteen  grains 
for  one,"  as  the  peasants  put  it;  a  scanty  snowfall  means 
famine,  for  the  little  rain  which  falls  is  practically  of 
scarcely  any  use. 

The  plan  for  the  distribution  of  water  seems  to  be  far 
VOL.  i  x 


306  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xiv 

less  provocative  of  quarrels  than  that  of  some  other 
regions  dependent  on  irrigation,  such  as  Ladak  and  Nubra. 
Where  it  is  at  all  abundant,  as  it  is  in  this  Zainderud 
valley,  it  is  only  in  the  great  heats  of  summer  that  it  is 
necessary  to  apportion  it  with  any  rigidity.  It  is  then 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  mirab  or  water  officer,  who  allows 
it  to  each  village  in  turn  for  so  many  days,  during  which 
time  the  villages  above  get  none,  or  the  ketchudas  manage 
it  among  themselves  without  the  aid  of  a  mirab,  for  the  sad 
truth,  which  is  applicable  to  all  Persian  officialism,  applies 
in  the  mirab's  case,  that  if  a  village  be  rich  enough  to 
bribe  him  it  can  get  water  out  of  its  turn. 

The  blessedness  of  the  Zainderud  valley  is  exceptional, 
and  the  general  rule  in  the  majority  of  districts  is  that 
the  water  must  be  carefully  divided  and  be  measured  by 
"tasJtis,"  each  tasht  being  equivalent  to  the  use  of  the 
water  supply  for  eleven  minutes. 

"This  space  of  time  is  estimated  in  a  very  ancient 
fashion  by  floating  a  copper  bowl  with  a  needle  hole 
in  the  bottom  in  a  large  vessel  of  water.  The  tasht 
comes  to  an  end  as  the  bowl  sinks.  The  distribution 
is  regulated  by  the  number  of  taskts  that  each  man 
has  a  right  to.  If  he  has  a  right  to  twenty  he  will 
receive  water  for  three  and  three-quarter  hours  of  the 
day  or  night  every  tenth  day."  Land  without  water  in 
Persia  is  about  as  valuable  as  the  "  south  lands  "  were 
which  were  given  to  Caleb's  daughter. 

So  far  as  I  can  learn,  the  Persian  peasant  enjoys  a 
tolerable  security  of  tenure  so  long  as  he  pays  his  rent. 
A  common  rate  of  rent  is  two-thirds  of  the  produce,  but 
on  lands  where  the  snow  lies  for  many  months,  even 
when  they  are  "  wet  lands,"  it  is  only  one-third ;  but  this 
system  is  subject  to  many  modifications  specially  arising 
out  of  the  finding  or  non-finding  of  the  seed  by  the  owner, 
and  there  is  no  uniformity  in  the  manner  of  holding  land 


LETTER  xiv  A  BAKHTIARI  ESCORT  307 

or  in  assessing  the  taxes  or  in  anything  else,  though  the 
system  established  1400  years  ago  is  still  the  basis  of  the 
whole.1 

The  line  between  the  oasis  and  the  desert  is  always 
strongly  marked  and  definite.  There  is  no  shading  away 
between  the  deep  green  of  the  growing  wheat  and  the 
yellow  or  red  gravel  beyond.  The  general  impression  is 
one  of  complete  nakedness.  The  flowers  which  in  this 
month  bloom  on  the  slopes  are  mostly  stiff,  leathery,  and 
thorny.  The  mountains  themselves  viewed  from  below 
are  without  any  indication  of  green.  The  usual  colouring 
is  grayish -yellow  or  a  feeble  red,  intensifying  at  sun- 
set, but  rarely  glorified  owing  to  the  absence  of  "  atmo- 
sphere." 

It  is  a  very  solitary  route  from  Pul-i-Kala,  without 
villages,  and  we  met  neither  caravans  nor  foot  passengers. 
The  others  rode  on,  and  I  followed  with  two  of  the 
Bakhtiari  escort,  who  with  Rustem  Khan,  a  minor  chief, 
had  accompanied  us  from  Julfa.  These  men  were  most 
inconsequent  in  their  proceedings,  wheeling  round  me  at 
a  gallop,  singing,  or  rather  howling,  firing  their  long  guns, 
throwing  themselves  into  one  stirrup  and  nearly  off  their 
horses,  and  one  who  rides  without  a  bridle  came  up 
behind  me  with  his  horse  bolting  and  nearly  knocked 
me  out  of  the  saddle  with  the  long  barrel  of  his  gun. 
When  the  village  of  Charmi  came  in  sight  I  signed  to 
them  to  go  on,  and  we  all  rode  at  a  gallop,  the  horsemen 
uttering  wild  cries  and  going  through  the  pantomime  of 
firing  over  the  left  shoulders  and  right  flanks  of  their 
horses. 

The  camps  were  pitched  on  what  might  be  called  the 
village  green.  Channi,  like  many  Persian  villages,  is 

1  The  readers  interested  in  such  matters  will  find  much  carefully- 
acquired  information  on  water  distribution,  assessments,  and  tenure  of 
land  in  the  second  volume  of  the  late  Mr.  Stack's  Six  Months  in  Persia. 


308  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xiv 

walled,  the  wall,  which  is  much  jagged  by  rain  and  frost, 
having  round  towers  at  intervals,  and  a  large  gateway. 
Such  walls  are  no  real  protection,  but  serve  to  keep  the 
flocks  and  herds  from  nocturnal  depredators.  Within  the 
gate  is  a  house  called  the  Fort,  with  a  very  fine  room 
fully  thirty  feet  long  by  fifteen  high,  decorated  with  a 
mingled  splendour  and  simplicity  surprising  in  a  rural 
district  The  wall  next  the  courtyard  is  entirely  of 
very  beautiful  fretwork,  filled  in  with  amber  and  pale 
blue  glass.  The  six  doors  are  the  same,  and  the  walls  and 
the  elaborate  roof  and  cornices  are  pure  White,  the  pro- 
jections being  "  picked  out "  in  a  pale  shade  of  brown, 
hardly  darker  than  amber. 

The  following  morning  Miss  Bruce  left  on  her  return 
home,  and  Mr.  Douglas  and  I  rode  fourteen  miles  to  the 
large  village  of  Kahva  Rukh,  where  we  parted  company. 
It  is  an  uninteresting  march  over  formless  gravelly  hills  and 
small  plains  thinly  grassed,  until  the  Gardan-i-Rukh,  one 
of  the  high  passes  on  the  Isfahan  and  Shuster  route,  is 
reached,  with  its  extensive  view  of  brown  mountains  and 
yellow  wastes.  This  pass,  7960  feet  in  altitude,  cross- 
ing the  unshapely  Kuh-i-Rukh,  is  the  watershed  of  the 
country,  all  the  streams  on  its  southern  side  falling  into 
the  Karuu.  It  is  also  the  entrance  to  the  Chahar  Mahals 
or  four  districts,  Lar,  Khya,  Mizak,  and  Gandaman,  which 
consist  chiefly  of  great  plains  surrounded  by  mountains, 
and  somewhat  broken  up  by  their  gravelly  spurs. 

Beyond,  and  usually  in  sight,  is  the  snow-slashed  Kuh-i- 
Sukhta  range,  which  runs  south-east,  and  throws  out  a 
spur  to  Chigakhor,  the  summer  resort  of  the  Bakhtiari 
chiefs.  The  Chahar  Mahals,  for  Persia,  are  populous, 
and  in  some  parts  large  villages,  many  of  which  are 
Armenian  and  Georgian,  occur  at  frequent  intervals,  most 
of  them  treeless,  but  all  surrounded  by  cultivated  lands. 
The  Armenian  villages  possess  so-called  relics  and  ancient 


LETTER  xiv  A  FRANK   HAKIM  309 

copies  of  the  Gospels,  which  are  credited  with  the  power 
of  working  miracles.1 

The  Chahar  Mahals  have  been  farmed  to  the  Ilkhani 
of  the  Bakhtiaris  for  about  20,000  tumans  (£6000)  a 
year,  and  his  brother,  Reza  Kuli  Khan,  has  been  appointed 
their  governor.  Thus  on  crossing  the  Kahva  Eukh  pass 
we  entered  upon  the  sway  of  the  feudal  head  of  the 
great  Bakhtiari  tribes. 

We  camped  outside  the  village,  my  tents  being  pitched 
in  a  ruinous  enclosure.  The  servants  are  in  the  habit 
of  calling  me  the  Hakim,  and  the  report  of  a  Frank  Hakim 
having  arrived  soon  brought  a  crowd  of  sick  people,  who 
were  introduced  and  their  ailments  described  by  a  blue 
horseman,  one  of  the  escort 

His  own  child  was  so  dangerously  ill  of  pneumonia 
that  I  went  with  him  to  his  house,  put  on  a  mustard 
poultice,  and  administered  some  Dover's  powder.  The 
house  was  crammed  and  the  little  suffering  creature  had 
hardly  air  to  breathe.  The  courtyard  was  also  crowded, 
so  that  one  could  scarcely  move,  all  the  people  being  quite 
pleasant  and  friendly.  I  saw  several  sick  people,  and 
was  surprised  to  find  the  village  houses  so  roomy  and 
comfortable,  and  so  full  of  "  plenishings."  It  was  in  vain 
that  I  explained  to  them  that  I  am  not  a  doctor,  scarcely 
even  a  nurse.  The  fame  of  Burroughes  and  Wellcome's 

1  Some  of  the  legends  connected  with  these  objects  are  grossly  super- 
stitious. At  Shurishghan  there  is  a  "Holy Testament,"  regarding  which 
the  story  runs  that  it  was  once  stolen  by  the  Lure,  who  buried  it  under  a 
tree  by  the  bank  of  a  stream.  Long  afterwards  a  man  began  to  cut  down 
the  tree,  but  when  the  axe  was  laid  to  its  root  blood  gushed  forth.  On 
searching  for  the  cause  of  this  miracle  the  Gospels  were  found  uninjured 
beneath.  It  is  believed  that  if  any  one  were  to  take  the  Testament  away  it 
would  return  of  its  own  accord.  It  has  the  reputation  of  working  miracles 
of  healing,  and  many  resort  to  it  either  for  themselves  or  for  their  sick 
friends,  from  Northern  Persia  and  even  from  Shiraz,  as  well  as  from  the 
vicinity,  and  vows  are  made  before  it.  The  gifts  presented  to  it  become 
the  property  of  its  owners. 


310  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  XIT 

medicine  chest  has  spread  far  and  wide,  and  they  think 
its  possessor  must  be  a  HaMm.  The  horseman  said  that 
medicine  out  of  that  chest  would  certainly  cure  his 
child.1  I  was  unable  to  go  back  to  the  tea  which  had 
been  prepared  in  the  horseman's  house,  on  which  he 
expressed  great  dismay,  and  said  I  must  be  "  enraged 
with  him." 

Persians  always  use  round  numbers,  and  the  ketchuda 
says  that  the  village  has  300  Persian  houses,  and  100 
more,  inhabited  during  the  winter  by  Ilyats.  It  has 
mud  walls  with  towers  at  intervals,  two  mosques,  a 
clear  stream  of  water  in  the  principal  street,  some  very 
good  houses  with  balakhanas,  and  narrow  alleys  between 
high  mud  walls,  in  which  are  entrances  into  courtyards 
occupied  by  animals,  and  surrounded  by  living-rooms. 
The  only  trees  are  a  few  spindly  willows,  but  wheat 
comes  up  to  the  walls,  and  at  sunset  great  herds  of  cattle 
and  myriads  of  brown  sheep  converge  to  what  seems 
quite  a  prosperous  village. 

May  5. — Yesterday,  Sunday,  was  intended  to  be  a 
day  of  rest,  but  turned  out  very  far  from  it  After  the 
last  relay  of  "  patients "  left  on  Saturday  evening,  and 
the  last  medicines  had  been  "  dispensed,"  my  tent  was 
neatly  arranged  with  one  yekdan  for  a  table,  and  the  other 
for  a  washstand  and  medicine  stand.  The  latter  trunk  con- 
tained some  English  gold  in  a  case  along  with  some  valu- 
able letters,  and  some  bags,  in  which  were  1000  krans,  for 
four  months'  travelling.  This  yekdan  was  padlocked.  It 
was  a  full  moon,  the  other  camps  were  quite  near,  all 
looked  very  safe,  and  I  slept  until  awakened  by  the  sharp- 
ness of  the  morning  air. 

Then  I  saw  but  one  yekdan  where  there  had  been 

1  And  so  it  did,  though  it  was  then  so  ill  that  it  seemed  unlikely  that 
it  would  live  through  the  night,  and  I  told  them  so  before  I  gave  the 
medicine,  lest  they  should  think  that  I  had  killed  it. 


LETTER  xiv  A  NOCTURNAL  ROBBERY  311 

two !  Opening  the  tent  curtain  I  found  my  washing 
apparatus  and  medicine  bottles  neatly  arranged  on  the 
ground  outside,  and  the  trunk  without  its  padlock  among 
some  ruins  a  short  distance  off.  The  money  bags  were 
all  gone,  leaving  me  literally  penniless.  Most  of  my 
store  of  tea  was  taken,  but  nothing  else.  Two  men 
must  have  entered  my  tent  and  have  carried  the  trunk 
out.  Of  what  use  are  any  precautions  when  one  sleeps 
so  disgracefully  soundly  ?  When  the  robbery  was  made 
known  horsemen  were  sent  off  to  the  Ilkhani,  whose 
guest  I  have  been  since  I  entered  his  territory,  and 
at  night  a  Khan  arrived  with  a  message  that  "  the 
money  would  be  repaid,  and  that  the  village  would  be 
levelled  with  the  ground!"  Kahva  Rukh  will,  I  hope, 
stand  for  many  years  to  come,  but  the  stolen  sum  will  be 
levied  upon  it,  according  to  custom. 

The  people  are  extremely  vexed  at  this  occurrence, 
and  I  would  rather  have  lost  half  the  sum  than  that  it 
should  have  happened  to  a  guest.  In  addition  to  an 
escort  of  a  Khan  and  four  men,  the  Ilkhani  has  given 
orders  that  we  are  not  to  be  allowed  to  pay  for  anything 
while  in  the  country.  This  order,  after  several  battles, 
I  successfully  disobey.  This  morning,  before  any  steps 
were  taken  to  find  the  thief,  and  after  all  the  loads 
were  ready,  officials  came  to  the  camps,  and,  by  our  wish, 
every  man's  baggage  was  unrolled  and  searched.  Our 
servants  and  charvadars  are  all  Moslems,  and  each  of 
them  took  an  oath  on  the  Koran,  administered  by  a 
mollah,  that  he  was  innocent  of  the  theft. 

Ardal,  May  9. — I  left  rather  late,  and  with  the 
blue  horseman,  to  whom  suspicion  generally  pointed, 
rode  to  Shamsabad,  partly  over  gravelly  wastes,  passing 
two  mixed  Moslem  and  Armenian  villages  on  a  plain, 
on  which  ninety  ploughs  were  at  work  on  a  stiff  whitish 
soil. 


312  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xi* 

Shamsabad  is  a  most  wretched  mud  village  without 
supplies,  standing  bare  on  a  gravelly  slope,  above  a  clear 
quiet  stream,  an  affluent  of  the  Karun.  This  country 
has  not  reached  that  stage  of  civilisation  in  which  a 
river  bears  the  same  name  from  mouth  to  source,  and  as 
these  streams  usually  take  as  many  names  as  there  are 
villages  on  their  course,  I  do  not  burden  my  memory 
with  them.  There  is  a  charming  camping-ground  of 
level  velvety  green  sward  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river, 
with  the  towering  mass  of  Jehanbin  (sight  of  the  world), 
12,000  feet  high,  not  far  oft  This  lawn  is  6735  feet 
above  the  sea,  and  the  air  keen  and  pleasant  The 
near  mountain  views  are  grand,  and  that  evening  the  rare 
glory  of  a  fine  sunset  lingered  till  it  was  merged  in  the 
beauty  of  a  perfect  moonlight 

After  leaving  Shamsabad  the  road  passes  through 
a  rather  fine  defile,  crosses  the  Shamsabad  stream  by  a 
ten-arched  bridge  between  the  Kuh-i-Zangun  and  the 
Kuh-i-Jehanbin,  and  proceeds  down  a  narrow  valley  now 
full  of  wild  flowers  and  young  wheat  to  Khariji,  a  village 
of  fifty  houses,  famous  for  the  excellent  quality  of  ite 
opium.  From  Khariji  we  proceeded  through  low  grassy 
hills,  much  like  the  South  Downs,  and  over  the  low  but 
very  rough  Pasbandi  Pass  into  an  irrigated  valley  in 
which  is  the  village  of  Shalamzar.  I  rode  through  it 
alone  quite  unmolested,  but  two  days  later  the  Sahib, 
passing  through  it  with  his  servants,  was  insulted  and 
pelted,  and  the  people  said,  "  Here's  another  of  the  dog 
party."  These  villagers  are  afflicted  with  "divers 
diseases  and  torments,"  and  the  crowd  round  my  tent 
was  unusually  large  and  importunate.  In  this  village  of 
less  than  fifty  houses  nearly  all  the  people  had  one  or 
both  eyes  more  or  less  affected,  and  fourteen  had  only 
one  eye. 

Between  Shalamzar  and  Ardal  lies  the  lofty  Gardan- 


LETTER  nv          THE  VALLEY  OF  SELIGUN  313 

i-Xirreh,  by  which  the  Kuh-i-Sukhta  is  crossed  at  a  height 
of  8300  feet  The  ascent  begins  soon  after  leaving  the 
village,  and  is  long  and  steep^a  nasty  climb.  The  upper 
part  at  this  date  is  encumbered  with  snow,  below  which 
primulas  are  blooming  in  great  profusion,  and  lower  down 
leathery  flowers  devoid  of  beauty  cover  without  adorning 
the  hillside.  Two  peasants  went  up  with  me,  and  from 
time  to  time  kindly  handed  me  clusters  of  small  raisins 
taken  from  the  breasts  of  dirty  felt  clothing.  On  reach- 
ing the  snow  I  found  Rustem  Khan's  horse  half-buried 
in  a  drift,  so  I  made  the  rest  of  the  ascent  on  foot  The 
snow  was  three  feet  deep,  but  for  the  most  part  presented 
no  difficulties,  even  to  the  baggage  animals. 

At  the  summit  there  were  no  green  things  except 
some  plants  of  artemisia,  not  even  a  blade  of  grass,  but 
among  the  crevices  appeared  small  fragile  snow-white 
tulips  with  yellow  centres,  mixed  with  scarlet  and  mauve 
blossoms  of  a  more  vigorous  make.  At  that  great  height 
the  air  was  keen  and  bracing,  and  to  eyes  for  months  ac- 
customed to  regions  buried  in  dazzling  snow  and  to  glaring 
gravelly  wastes,  there  was  something  perfectly  entrancing 
about  the  view  on  the  Bakhtiari  side.  Though  treeless,  it 
looked  like  Paradise.  Lying  at  the  foot  of  the  pass  is  the 
deep  valley  of  Seligun,  8000  feet  high,  with  the  range 
of  the  Kuh-i-Nassar  to  the  south,  and  of  the  Kuh-Shah- 
1'urnar  to  the  north — green,  full  of  springs  and  streams, 
with  two  lakes  bringing  down  the  blue  of  heaven  to  earth, 
with  slopes  aflame  with  the  crimson  and  terra-cotta  Fritil- 
laria  imperialis,  and  levels  one  golden  glory  with  a  yellow 
ranunculus.  Rich  and  dark  was  the  green  of  the  grass, 
tall  and  deep  on  the  plain,  but  when  creeping  up  the 
ravines  to  meet  the  snows,  short  green  sward  enamelled 
with  tulips.  Great  masses  of  naked  rock,  snow-slashed, 
and  ranges  of  snow-topped  masses  behind  and  above, 
walled  in  that  picture  of  cool  serenity,  its  loneliness  only 


314  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xiv 

broken  by  three  black  tents  of  Ilyats  far  away.  So  I  saw 
Seligun,  but  those  who  see  it  a  month  hence  will  find 
only  a  brown  and  dusty  plain ! 

The  range  we  crossed  divides  the  Chahar  Mahals  from 
the  true  Bakhtiari  country,  a  land  of  mountains  which 
rumour  crests  with  eternal  snow,  of  unexplored  valleys 
and  streams,  of  feudal  chiefs,  of  blood  feuds,  and  of 
nomad  tribes  moving  with  vast  flocks  and  herds. 

Mehemet  All,  a  new  and  undesirable  acquisition,  was 
loaded  with  my  sJiuldari,  and  we  clambered  down  the 
hillside,  leading  our  horses  amidst  tamarisk  scrub  and  a 
glory  of  tulips,  till  we  reached  the  level,  when  a  gallop 
brought  us  to  the  camps,  pitched  near  a  vigorous  spring 
in  the  green  flower-enamelled  grass. 

That  halt  was  luxury  for  man  and  beast  Later  the 
air  was  cool  and  moist  The  sun-lit  white  fleeces  which 
had  been  rolling  among  the  higher  hills  darkened  and 
thickened  into  rain -clouds,  drifting  stormily,  and  only 
revealing  here  and  there  through  their  rifts  glimpses  of 
blue.  A  few  flocks  of  sheep  on  the  mountains,  and  the 
mules  and  horses  revelling  knee-deep  in  the  juicy  grass, 
were  the  sole  representatives  of  animated  life.  It  was 
a  real  refreshment  to  be  away  from  the  dust  of  mud 
villages,  and  to  escape  from  the  pressure  of  noisy  and 
curious  crowds,  and  the  sight  of  sore  eyes. 

Towards  evening,  a  gallop  on  the  Arabs  with  the 
Bakhtiari  escort  took  us  to  the  camp  of  the  lately-arrived 
Ilyats.  Orientals  spend  much  of  their  time  in  the  quiet 
contemplation  of  cooking  pots,  and  these  nomads  were 
not  an  exception,  for  they  were  all  sitting  round  a  brush- 
wood fire,  on  which  the  evening  meal  of  meat  broth  with 
herbs  was  being  prepared.  The  women  were  unveiled. 
Both  men  and  women  are  of  quite  a  different  type  from 
the  Persians.  They  are  completely  clothed  and  in 
appearance  are  certainly  only  semi-savages.  These  tents 


LETTER  xiv  A  TRIBAL  MIGRATION  315 

consisted  of  stones  rudely  laid  to  a  height  of  two  feet  at 
the  back,  over  which  there  is  a  canopy  with  an  open 
front  and  sides,  of  woven  goat's-hair  supported  on  poles. 
Such  tents  are  barely  a  shelter  from  wind  and  rain,  but  in 
them  generations  of  Ilyats  are  born  and  die,  despising 
those  of  their  race  who  settle  in  villages. 

There  were  great  neutral-tint  masses  of  rolling  clouds, 
great  banks  of  glistering  white  clouds,  a  cold  roystering 
wind,  a  lurid  glow,  and  then  a  cloudy  twilight  Hukim 
threw  up  his  heels  and  galloped  over  the  moist  grass,  the 
Bakhtiaris,  two  on  one  horse,  laughed  and  yelled — there 
was  the  desert  freedom  without  the  desert  It  was  the 
most  inspiriting  evening  I  have  spent  in  Persia.  Truth 
compels  me  to  add  that  there  were  legions  of  black  flies. 

In  the  early  morning,  after  riding  round  the  south- 
east end  of  the  valley,  we  passed  by  the  lake  Seligun  or 
Albolaki,  banked  up  by  a  revetment  of  rude  masonry. 
The  wind  was  strong,  and  drove  the  foam-flecked  water 
in  a  long  line  of  foam  on  the  shore.  Red-legged  storks 
were  standing  in  a  row  fishing.  Cool  scuds  of  rain  made 
the  morning  homelike.  Then  there  was  a  hill  ascent, 
from  which  the  view  of  snowy  mountains,  gashed  by 
deep  ravines  and  backed  by  neutral -tint  clouds,  was 
magnificent,  and  then  a  steep  and  rocky  defile,  which 
involved  walking,  its  sides  gaudy  with  the  Fritillaria 
imperial-is,  which  here  attains  a  size  and  a  depth  of  colour- 
ing of  which  we  have  no  conception. 

In  this  pass  we  met  a  large  number  of  Ilyat  families 
going  up  to  their  summer  quarters,  with  their  brown 
flocks  of  sheep  and  their  black  flocks  of  goats.  Their 
tents  with  all  their  other  goods  were  packed  in  con- 
venient parcels  on  small  cows,  and  the  women  with 
babies  and  big  wooden  cradles  were  on  asses.  The 
women  without  babies,  the  elder  children,  and  the  men 
walked. 


316  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xiv 

Whatever  beauty  these  women  possessed  was  in  the 
Meg  Merrilees  style,  with  a  certain  weirdness  about  it. 
They  had  large,  dark,  long  eyes,  with  well-marked  eye- 
brows, artificially  prolonged,  straight  prominent  noses, 
wide  mouths  with  thin  lips,  long  straight  chins,  and 
masses  of  black  hair  falling  on  each  side  of  the  face. 
Their  dress  consisted  of  enormously  full  dark  blue  cotton 
trousers,  drawn  in  at  the  ankles,  and  suspended  over  the 
hips,  not  from  the  waist  (the  invariable  custom  in 
Persia),  and  loose  sleeved  vests,  open  in  front  The 
adult  women  all  wear  a  piece  of  cotton  pinned  on  the 
head,  and  falling  over  the  back  and  shoulders.  The  men 
had  their  hair  in  many  long  plaits,  hanging  from  under 
felt  skull-caps,  and  wore  wide  blue  cotton  trousers,  white 
or  printed  cotton  shirts  over  these,  and  girdles  in  which 
they  carried  knives,  pipes,  and  other  indispensables. 
All  wore  shoes  or  sandals  of  some  kind.  These  men 
were  very  swarthy,  but  the  younger  women  had  rich 
brunette  complexions,  and  were  unveiled. 

Some  bad  horse-fights  worried  the  remainder  of  the 
march,  which  included  the  ascent  of  an  anemone-covered 
hill,  7700  feet  high,  from  which  we  got  the  first  view  of 
the  Ardal  valley,  much  cultivated,  till  it  narrows  and  is 
lost  among  mountains,  now  partly  covered  with  snow. 
In  the  centre  is  a  large  building  with  a  tower,  the  spring 
residence  of  the  Ilkhani,  whose  goodwill  it  is  necessary 
to  secure.  Through  a  magnificent  gorge  in  the  mountains 
passes  the  now  famous  Karun.  A  clatter  of  rain  and  a 
strong  wind  greeted  our  entrance  into  the  valley,  where 
we  "were  met  by  some  horsemen  from  the  Ilkhani. 

The  great  Ardal  plateau  is  itself  treeless,  though  the 
lower  spurs  of  the  Kuh-i-Sabz  on  the  south  side  are  well 
wooded  with  the  belut,  a  species  of  oak.  There  is  much 
cultivation,  and  at  this  season  the  uncultivated  ground 
is  covered  with  the  great  green  leaves  of  a  fodder  plant, 


LETTER  xiv  ARRIVAL  AT  ARDAL  317 

the  Centaurea  alata,  which  a  little  later  are  cut,  dried, 
and  stacked  The  rivers  of  the  plateau  are  the  Karun 
and  Sabzu  on  the  south  side,  and  the  river  of  Shamsabad, 
which  brings  to  the  Karun  the  drainage  of  the  Chahar 
Mahals,  and  enters  the  valley  through  a  magnificent  tang 
or  chasm  on  its  north  side,  called  Darkash  Warkash. 
The  village  of  Ardal  is  eighty-five  miles  from  Isfahan, 
on  the  Shuster  caravan  route,  and  is  about  200  from 
Shuster.  Its  altitude  is  5970  feet,  its  Long.  50°  50'  K 
and  its  Lat.  32°  N. 

On  arriving  here  the  grandeur  of  the  Ilkhani's  house 
faded  away.  Except  for  the  fortified  tower  it  looks  like 
a  second-rate  caravanserai.  The  village,  such  as  there  is 
of  it,  is  crowded  on  a  steep  slope  outside  the  "  Palace." 
It  is  a  miserable  hamlet  of  low  wiudowless  mud  hovels, 
with  uneven  mud  floors,  one  or  two  feet  lower  than  the 
ground  outside,  built  in  yards  with  ruinous  walls,  and 
full  of  heaps  and  holes.  It  is  an  olla  podrida  of  dark, 
poor,  smoky  mud  huts ;  narrow  dirt-heaped  alleys,  with 
bones  and  offal  lying  about ;  gaunt  yelping  dogs ;  bottle- 
green  slimy  pools,  and  ruins.  The  people  are  as  dirty 
as  the  houses,  but  they  are  fine  in  physique  and  face,  as 
if  only  the  fittest  survive.  There  is  an  imamzada,  much 
visited  on  Fridays,  on  an  adjacent  slope.  The  snow  lies 
here  five  feet  deep  in  winter,  it  is  said. 

When  we  arrived  the  roofs  and  balconies  of  the 
Ilkhani's  house  were  crowded  with  people  looking  out 
for  us.  The  Agha  called  at  once,  and  I  sent  my  letter 
of  introduction  from  the  Ainin-es- Sultan.  Presents 
arrived,  formal  visits  were  paid,  the  Ilkhani's  principal 
wife  appointed  an  hour  at  which  to  receive  me,  and  a 
number  of  dismounted  horsemen  came  and  escorted  me 
to  the  palace.  The  chief  feature  of  the  house  is  a  large 
audience-chamber  over  the  entrance,  in  which  the  chief 
holds  a  daily  durbar,  the  deep  balcony  outside  being 


318 


.lorKNKVS    IN    I'KHSIA 


LETTER  XIV 


usually  thronged  by  crowds  of  tribesmen,  all  having  free 
access  to  him.     The  coming  and  going  are  incessant. 

The  palace  or  castle  is  like  a  two-storied  caravanserai, 
enclosing  a  large  untidy  courtyard,  round  which  are 
stables  and  cow-houses,  and  dens  for  soldiers  and 
servants.  In  the  outer  front  of  the  building  are  deep 
recessed  arches,  with  rooms  opening  upon  them,  in  which 
the  Isfahan  traders,  who  come  here  for  a  month,  expose 


CASTl.E  OF  AKDAL. 


their  wares.  Passing  under  the  Ilkhani's  audience- 
chamber  by  a  broad  arched  passage  with  deep  recesses 
ou  both  sides,  and  through  the  forlorn  uneven  courtyard, 
a  long,  dark  arched  passage  leads  into  a  second  court- 
yard, where  there  is  an  attempt  at  ornament  by  means 
of  tanks  and  willows.  Round  this  are  a  number  of 
living-rooms  for  the  Ilkhani's  sons  and  their  families,  and 
here  is  the  andarun,  or  house  of  the  women.  On  the  far 
side  is  the  Fort,  a  tall  square  tower  with  loopholes  and 
embrasures. 

A  Cerberus  guards  the  entrance  to  the  andarun,  but 


LETTER  xiv  HAIR  DYES  319 

he  allowed  Mirza  to  accompany  me.  A  few  steps  lead 
up  from  the  courtyard  into  a  lofty  oblong  room,  with  a 
deep  cushioned  recess  containing  a  fireplace.  The  roof 
rests  on  wooden  pillars.  The  front  of  the  room  facing 
the  courtyard  is  entirely  of  fretwork  filled  in  with  pale 
blue  and  amber  glass.  The  recess  and  part  of  the  floor 
were  covered  with  very  beautiful  blue  and  white  grounded 
carpets,  made  by  the  women.  The  principal  wife,  a 
comely  wide-mouthed  woman  of  forty,  advanced  to  meet 
me,  kissed  my  hand,  raised  it  to  her  brow,  and  sat  down 
on  a  large  carpet  squab,  while  the  other  wives  led  me 
into  the  recess,  and  seated  me  on  a  pile  of  cushions, 
taking  their  places  in  a  row  on  the  floor  opposite,  but 
scarcely  raising  their  eyes,  and  never  speaking  one  word. 
The  rest  of  the  room  was  full  of  women  and  children 
standing,  and  many  more  blocked  up  the  doorways,  all 
crowding  forward  in  spite  of  objurgations  and  smart  slaps 
frequently  administered  by  the  principal  wife. 

The  three  young  wives  are  Bakhtiaris,  and  their  style 
of  beauty  is  novel  to  me — straight  noses,  wide  mouths, 
thin  lips,  and  long  chins.  Eacli  has  three  stars  tattooed 
on  her  chin,  one  in  the  centre  of  the  forehead,  and 
several  on  the  back  of  the  hands.  The  eyebrows  are 
not  only  elongated  with  indigo,  but  are  made  to  meet 
across  the  nose.  The  finger-nails,  and  inside  of  the 
hands,  are  stained  with  henna.  The  hair  hangs  round 
their  wild,  handsome  faces,  down  to  their  collar-bones,  in 
loose,  heavy,  but  not  uncleanly  masses. 

Among  the  "  well-to-do  "  Bakhtiari  women,  as  among 
the  Persians,  the  hair  receives  very  great  attention, 
although  it  is  seldom  exhibited.  It  is  naturally  jet 
black,  and  very  abundant.  It  is  washed  at  least  once  a 
week  with  a  thin  paste  of  a  yellowish  clay  found  among 
the  Zard-Kuh  mountains,  which  has  a  very  cleansing  effect. 

But  the  women  are  not  content  with  their  hair  as  it 


320  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xiv 

is,  and  alter  its  tinge  by  elaborate  arts.  They  mak 
thick  paste  of  henna,  leave  it  on  for  two  hours,  and  tln-n 
wash  it  off.  The  result  is  a  rich  auburn  tint  A  similar 
paste,  made  of  powdered  indigo  leaves,  is  then  plastered 
over  the  hair  for  two  hours.  On  its  removal  the  locks 
are  dark  green,  but  in  twenty -four  hours  more  they 
become  a  rich  blue-black.  The  process  needs  repeating 
about  every  twenty  days,  but  it  helps  to  fill  up  the 
infinite  leisure  of  life.  It  is  performed  by  the  bath 
attendants. 

In  justice  to  my  sex  I  must  add  that  the  men  dye 
their  hair  to  an  equal  extent  with  the  women,  from  the 
shining  blue-black  of  the  Shah's  moustache  to  the  brilliant 
orange  of  the  beard  of  Hadji  Hussein,  by  which  he 
forfeits,  though  not  in  Persian  estimation,  the  respect 
due  to  age. 

Some  of  the  Ilkhani's  children  and  grand -children 
have  the  hair  dyed  with  henna  alone  to  a  rich  auburn 
tint,  which  is  very  becoming  to  the  auburn  eyes  and 
delicate  paleness  of  some  of  them. 

The  wives  wore  enormously  full  black  silk  trousers, 
drawn  tight  at  the  ankles,  with  an  interregnum  between 
them  and  short  black  vests,  loose  and  open  in  front ;  and 
black  silk  sheets  attached  to  a  band  fixed  on  the  head 
enveloped  their  persons.  They  have,  as  is  usual  among 
these  people,  small  and  beautiful  hands,  with  taper 
fingers  and  nails  carefully  kept.  The  chief  wife,  who 
rules  the  others,  rumour  says,  was  also  dressed  in  black. 
She  has  a  certain  degree  of  comely  dignity  about  her, 
and  having  seen  something  of  the  outer  world  in  a 
pilgrimage  to  Mecca  vid  Baghdad,  returning  by  Egypt  and 
Persia,  and  having  also  lived  in  Tihran,  her  intelligence 
has  been  somewhat  awakened.  The  Bakhtiari  women 
generally  are  neither  veiled  nor  secluded,  but  the  higher 
chiefs  who  have  been  at  the  capital  think  it  chic  to 


LETTER  xiv  FEMALE  PROPRIETY  321 

adopt  the  Persian  customs  regarding  women,  and  the 
inferior  chiefs,  when  they  have  houses,  follow  their 
example. 

My  conversation  with  the  "  queen  "  consisted  chiefly 
of  question  and  answer,  varied  by  an  occasional  diverg- 
ence on  her  part  into  an  animated  talk  with  Mirza 
Yusuf.  Among  the  many  questions  asked  were  these : 
at  what  age  our  women  marry  ?  how  many  wives  the 
Agha  has  ?  how  long  our  women  are  allowed  to  keep 
their  boys  with  them  ?  why  I  do  not  dye  my  hair  ?  if  I 
know  of  anything  to  take  away  wrinkles  ?  to  whiten 
teeth?  etc.,  if  our  men  divorce  their  wives  when  they 

are  forty  ?  why  Mr. had  refused  a  Bakhtiari  wife  ? 

if  I  am  travelling  to  collect  herbs  ?  if  I  am  looking  for 
the  plant  which  if  found  would  turn  the  base  metals 
into  gold  ?  etc. 

She  said  they  had  very  dull  lives,  and  knew  nothing 
of  any  customs  but  their  own  ;  that  they  would  like  to  see 
the  Agha,  who,  they  heard,  was  a  head  taller  than  their 
tallest  men ;  that  they  hoped  I  should  be  at  Chigakhor 
when  they  were  there,  as  it  would  be  less  dull,  and  she 
apologised  for'not  offering  tea  or  sweetmeats,  as  it  is  the 
fast  of  the  Ramazan,  which  they  observe  very  strictly.  I 
told  them  that  the  Agha  wished  to  take  their  photographs, 
and  the  Hadji  Ilkhani  along  with  them.  They  were 
quite  delighted,  but  it  occurred  to  them  that  they  must 
first  get  the  Ilkhani's  consent  This  was  refused,  and 
one  of  his  sons,  whose  wife  is  very  handsome,  said,  "  We 
cannot  allow  pictures  to  be  made  of  our  women.  It  is 
not  our  custom.  We  cannot  allow  pictures  of  our  women 
to  be  in  strange  hands.  No  good  women  have  their 
pictures  taken.  Among  the  tribes  you  may  find  women 
base  enough  to  be  photographed."  The  chief  wife  offered 
to  make  me  a  present  of  her  grandson,  to  whom  I  am 
giving  a  tonic,  if  I  can  make,  him  strong  and  cure  his 
VOL.  I  Y 


322  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xrv 

deafness.  He  is  a  pale  precocious  child  of  ten,  with 
hazel  eyes  and  hair  made  artificially  auburn. 

When  the  remarkably  frivolous  conversation  flagged, 
they  brought  children  afflicted  with  such  maladies  as 
ophthalmia,  scabies,  and  sore  eyes  to  be  cured,  but  rejected 
my  dictum  that  a  copious  use  of  soap  and  water  must 
precede  all  remedies.  Among  the  adults  headaches,  loss 
of  appetite,  and  dyspepsia  seem  the  prevailing  ailments. 
Love  potions  were  asked  for,  and  charms  to  bring  back 
lost  love,  with  special  earnestness,  and  the  woful  looks 
assumed  when  I  told  the  applicants  that  I  could  do 
nothing  for  them  were  sadly  suggestive.  There  could 
not  have  been  fewer  than  sixty  women  and  children  in 
the  room,  many,  indeed  most  of  them,  fearfully  dirty  in 
dress  and  person.  Among  them  were  several  negro  and 
mulatto  slaves.  When  I  came  away  the  balconies  and 
arches  of  the  Ilkhani's  house  were  full  of  men,  anxious 
to  have  a  good  view  of  the  Feringhi  woman,  but  there 
was  no  rudeness  there,  or  in  the  village,  which  I  walked 
through  afterwards  with  a  courtesy  escort  of  several  dis- 
mounted horsemen. 

After  this  the  Ilkhani  asked  me  to  g*o  to  see  a  man 
who  is  very  ill,  and  sent  two  of  his  retainers  with  me. 
It  must  be  understood  that  Mirza  Yusuf  goes  with  me 
everywhere  as  attendant  and  interpreter.  The  house  was 
a  dark  room,  with  a  shed  outside,  in  a  filthy  yard,  in 
which  children,  goats,  and  dogs  were  rolling  over  each 
other  in  a  foot  of  powdered  mud.  Crowds  of  men  were 
standing  in  and  about  the  shed.  I  made  my  way  through 
them,  moving  them  to  right  and  left  with  my  hands,  with 
the  recognised  supremacy  of  a  Hakim  \  There  were  some 
wadded  quilts  on  the  ground,  and  another  covered  a 
form  of  which  nothing  was  visible  but  two  feet,  deadly 
cold.  The  only  account  that  the  bystanders  could  give 
of  the  illness  was,  that  four  days  ago  the  man  fainted, 


LETTER  xiv  A  DYING  BAKHTIARI  323 

and  that  since  he  had  not  been  able  to  eat,  speak,  or 
move.  The  face  was  covered  with  several  folds  of  a  very 
dirty  chadar.  On  removing  it  1  was  startled  by  seeing, 
not  a  sick  man,  but  the  open  mouth,  gasping  respiration, 
and  glassy  eyes  of  a  dying  man.  His  nostrils  had  been 
stuffed  with  moist  mud  and  a  chopped  aromatic  herb 
The  feet  were  uncovered,  and  the  limbs  were  quite  cold. 
There  was  no  cruelty  in  this.  The  men  about  him  were 
most  kind,  but  absolutely  ignorant. 

I  told  them  that  he  could  hardly  survive  the  night, 
and  that  all  I  could  do  was  to  help  him  to  die  comfort- 
ably. They  said  with  one  clamorous  voice  that  they 
would  do  whatever  I  told  them,  and  in  the  remaining 
hours  they  kept  their  word.  I  bade  them  cleanse  the 
mud  from  his  nostrils,  wrap  the  feet  and  legs  in  warm 
cloths,  give  him  air,  and  not  crowd  round  him.  Under 
less  solemn  circumstances  I  should  have  been  amused 
with  the  absolute  docility  with  which  these  big  savage- 
looking  men  obeyed  me.  I  cut  up  a  blanket,  and  when 
they  had  heated  some  water  in  their  poor  fashion, 
showed  them  how  to  prepare  fomentations,  put  on  the 
first  myself,  and  bathed  his  face  and  hands. 

He  was  clothed  in  rags  of  felt  and  cotton,  evidently 
never  changed  since  the  day  tHey  were  put  on,  though  he 
was  what  they  call  "  rich," — a  great  owner  of  mares,  flocks, 
and  herds, — and  the  skin  was  scaly  with  decades  of  dirt. 
I  ventured  to  pour  a  little  sal-volatile  and  water  down  his 
throat,  and  the  glassy  eyeballs  moved  a  little.  I  asked 
the  bystanders  if,  as  Moslems,  they  would  object  to  his 
taking  some  spirits  medicinally  ?  They  were  willing,  but 
said  there  was  no  arak  in  the  Bakhtiari  country,  a  happy 
exemption !  The  Agha's  kindness  supplied  some  whisky, 
of  which  from  that  time  the  dying  man  took  a  teaspoon- 
ful,  much  diluted,  every  two  hours,  tossed  down  his  throat 
with  a  spoon,  Allah  being  always  invoked.  There  was 


.-{-I  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xi? 

no  woman's  gentleness  to  soothe  his  last  hours.  A  wife 
in  the  dark  den  inside  was  weaving,  and  once  came  out 
and  looked  carelessly  at  him,  but  men  did  for  him  all 
that  he  required  with  a  tenderness  and  kindness  which 
were  very  pleasing.  Before  I  left  they  asked  for  directions 
over  again,  and  one  of  the  Ilkhani's  retainers  wrote  them 
down. 

At  night  the  Ilkhani  sent  to  say  that  the  man  was 
much  better  and  he  hoped  I  would  go  and  see  him. 
The  scene  was  yet  more  weird  than  in  the  daytime. 
A  crowd  of  men  were  sitting  and  standing  round  a  fire 
outside  the  shed,  and  four  were  watching  the  dying  man. 
The  whisky  had  revived  him,  his  pulse  was  better,  the 
fomentation  had  relieved  the  pain,  and  when  it  was  re- 
applied  he  had  uttered  the  word  "  good."  I  tried  to  make 
them  understand  it  was  only  a  last  flicker  of  life,  but 
they  thought  he  would  recover,  and  the  Ilkhani  sent  to 
know  what  food  he  should  have. 

At  dawn  "  death  music,"  wild  and  sweet,  rang  out  on 
the  still  air;  he  died  painlessly  at  midnight,  and  was 
carried  to  the  grave  twelve  hours  later. 

When  people  are  very  ill  their  friends  give  them 
food  and  medicine  (if  a  Hakim  be  attainable),  till,  in 
their  judgment,  the  case  is  hopeless.  Then  they  send 
for  a  mollah,  who  reads  the  Koran  in  a  very  loud  sing- 
song tone  till  death  ensues,  the  last  thirst  being  alleviated 
meantime  by  sharbat  dropped  into  the  mouth.  Camphor 
and  other  sweet  spices  are  burned  at  the  grave.  If  they 
burn  well  and  all  is  pure  afterwards,  they  say  that  the 
deceased  person  has  gone  to  heaven;  if  they  burn  feebly 
and  smokily,  and  there  is  any  unpleasantness  from  the 
grave,  they  say  that  the  spirit  is  in  perdition.  A 
Bakhtiari  grave  is  a  very  shallow  trench. 

The  watchers  were  kind,  and  carried  out  my  directions 
faithfully.  I  give  these  minute  details  to  show  how  much 


LETTER  xiv  IMAM   KULI   KHAN  325 

even  simple  nursing  can  do  to  mitigate  suffering  among 
a  people  so  extremely  ignorant  as  the  Bakhtiaris  are  not 
only  of  the  way  to  tend  the  sick,  but  of  the  virtues  of 
the  medicinal  plants  which  grow  in  abundance  around 
them.  A  medical  man  itinerating  among  their  camps 
with  a  light  hospital  tent  and  some  simple  instruments 
and  medicines  could  do  a  great  deal  of  healing,  and 
much  also  to  break  down  the  strong  prejudice  which 
exists  against  Christianity.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the 
Hakim  is  respected.  Going  in  that  capacity  I  found 
the  people  docile,  respectful,  and  even  grateful.  Had  I 
gone  among  them  in  any  other,  a  Christian  Feringhi 
woman  would  certainly  have  encountered  rudeness  and 
worse. 

The  Ilkhani,  \vho  has  not  been  in  a  hurry  to  call, 
made  a  formal  visit  to-day  with  his  brother,  Reza  Kuli 
Khan,  his  eldest  son  Lutf,  another  son,  Gluilam,  with  bad 
eyes,  and  a  crowd  of  retainers.  The  Hadji  Ilkhani, — 
Imam  Kuli  Khan,  the  great  feudal  chief  of  the  Bakhtiuri 
tribes,  is  a  quiet-looking  middle-aged  man  with  a  short 
black  beard,  a  parchment-coloured  complexion,  and  a  face 
somewhat  lined,  with  a  slightly  sinister  expression  at 
times.  He  wore  a  white  felt  cap,  a  blue  full -skirted 
coat  lined  with  green,  another  of  fine  buff  kerseymere 
under  it,  with  a  girdle,  and  very  wide  black  silk  trousers. 

He  is  a  man  of  some  dignity  of  deportment,  and  his 
usual  expression  is  somewhat  kindly  and  courteous.  He 
is  a  devout  Moslem,  and  has  a  finely-illuminated  copy  of 
the  Koran,  which  he  spends  much  time  in  reading.  He 
is  not  generally  regarded  as  a  very  capable  or  powerful 
man,  and  is  at  variance  with  the  Ilbegi,  who,  though 
nominally  second  chief,  practically  shares  his  power.  In 
fact,  at  this  time  serious  intrigues  are  going  on,  and  some 
say  that  the  adherents  of  the  two  chiefs  would  not  be 
unwilling  to  come  to  open  war. 


386 


JnfKNKYS   IN    I'KHSIA 


LETTER  XIV 


•  The  greatest  men  who  in  this  century  have  filled  the 
office  of  Ilkhani  both  perished  miserably.  The  fate  of 
Sir  H.  Layard's  friend,  Meheraet  Taki  Khan,  is  well  known 
to  all  readers  of  the  Early  Recollection*,  but  it  was 
possibly  less  unexpected  than  that  of  Hussein  Kuli  Khan, 
l>r<tther  of  the  present  Ilkhani,  and  father  of  the  Ilbegi 
Isfaudyar  Khan.  This  man  was  evidently  an  enlightened 


and  able  ruler ;  he  suppressed  brigandage  with  a  firm  hand, 
and  desired  to  see  the  Mohammerah- Sinister- Isfahan 
route  fairly  opened  to  trade.  He  went  so  far  as  to 
promise  Mr.  Mackenzie,  of  one  of  the  leading  Persian 
Gulf  firms,  in  writing,  that  he  would  hold  himself 
personally  responsible  for  the  safety  of  caravans  in  their 
passage  through  his  territory,  and  would  repay  any  losses 
by  robbery.  He  agreed  to  take  a  third  share  of  the 
cost  of  the  necessary  steamers  on  the  Karun,  and  to 


LETTER  xrv  BAKHTIARI  POLITICS  327 

furnish  100  mules  for  land  transport  between  Shuster 
and  Isfahan.1 

It  appears  that  Persian  jealousy  was  excited  by 
his  enterprising  spirit;  he  fell  under  the  displeasure 
of  the  Zil-es-Sultan,  and  in  1882  was  put  to  death 
by  poison  while  on  his  annual  visit  of  homage.  The 
present  Ilkhani,  who  succeeded  him,  warned  possibly  by 
his  brother's  fate,  is  said  to  show  little,  if  any,  interest 
in  commercial  enterprise,  and  to  have  made  the  some- 
what shrewd  remark  that  the  English ."  under  the  dress 
of  the  merchant  often  conceal  the  uniform  of  the  soldier." 

In  1888  the  Shah  relented  towards  Hussein  Kuli 
Khan's  sons,  the  eldest  of  whom,  Isfandyar  Khan,  had 
been  in  prison  for  seven  years,  and  they  with  their  uncle, 
Eeza  Kuli  Khan,  descended  with  their  followers  and  a 
small  Persian  army  upon  the  plain  of  Chigakhor,  where 
they  surprised  and  defeated  the  Hadji  Ilkhani.  His 
brother,  Reza,  was  thereupon  recognised  by  the  Shah  as 
Ilkhani,  and  Isfandyar  as  Ilbegi,  with  the  substance  of 
power.  Another  turn  of  the  wheel  of  fortune,  and  the 
brothers  became  respectively  Ilkhani  and  Governor  of  the 
Chahar  Mahals,  and  their  nephew  is  reinstated  as  Ilbegi.2 

The  Ilkhani's  word  is  law,  within  broad  limits,  among 
the  numerous  tribes  of  Bakhtiari  Lurs  who  have  con- 
sented to  recognise  him  as  their  feudal  head,  and  it  has 
been  estimated  that  in  a  popular  quarrel  he  could  bring 
from  8000  to  10,000  armed  horsemen  into  the  field.  He 
is  judge  as  well  as  ruler,  but  in  certain  cases  there  is  a 
possible  appeal  to  Tihran  from  his  decisions.  He  is 
appointed  by  the  Shah,  with  a  salary  of  1000  tumans 
a  year,  but  a  strong  man  in  his  position  could  be 
practically  independent 

1  Proceedings  of  R.  G.  S.,  vol.  v.  No.  3,  New  Series. 

2  I  am  indebted  for  the  information  given  above  to  a  valuable  paper 
by  Mr.  H.  Blosse  Lynch,  given  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  R.  O.  S.  for 
September  1890. 


328  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xrv 

It  can  scarcely  be  supposed  that  the  present  Ilkhani 
will  long  retain  his  uneasy  seat  against  the  intrigues  at 
the  Persian  court,  and  with  a  powerful  and  popular 
rival  close  at  hand.  It  is  manifestly  the  interest  of  the 
Shah's  government  to  weaken  the  tribal  power,  and 
extinguish  the  authority  and  independence  of  the 
principal  chiefs,  and  the  Oriental  method  of  attaining 
this  end  is  by  plots  and  intrigues  at  the  capital,  by 
creating  and  fomenting  local  quarrels,  and  by  oppressive 
taxation.  It  is  not  wonderful,  therefore,  that  many  of 
the  principal  Khans,  whose  immemorial  freedom  has  been 
encroached  upon  in  many  recent  years  by  the  Tihran 
Government,  should  look  forward  to  a  day  when  one  of 
the  Western  powers  will  occupy  south-west  Persia,  and 
give  them  security. 

The  Hadji  Ilkhani,  for  the  people  always  prefix  the 
religious  title,  discussed  the  proposed  journey,  promised 
me  an  escort  of  a  horseman  and  a  tufangchi,  or  foot- 
soldier,  begged  us  to  consider  ourselves  here  and  every- 
where as  his  guests,  and  to  ask  for  all  we  want,  here  and 
elsewhere.  His  brother,  lieza  Kuli  Khan,  who  has  played 
an  important  part  in  tribal  affairs,  resembles  him,  but 
the  sinister  look  is  more  persistent  on  his  face.  He 
was  much  depressed  by  the  fear  that  he  was  going  blind, 
but  on  trying  my  glasses  he  found  he  could  sea  The 
surprise  of  the  old -sighted  people  when  they  find  that 
spectacles  renew  their  youth  is  most  interesting. 

Another  visitor  has  been  the  Ilbegi,  Isfandyar  Khan. 
Though  not  tall,  he  is  very  good  -  looking,  and  has 
beautiful  hands  and  feet  He  is  able,  powerful,  and 
ambitious,  inspires  his  adherents  with  great  personal 
devotion,  and  is  regarded  by  many  as  the  "  coming  man." 
He  was  in  Tihran  when  I  was  in  Julfa,  and  hearing 
from  one  of  the  Ministers  that  I  was  about  to  visit  the 
Bakhtiari  country,  he  wrote  to  a  general  of  cavalry  in 


xiv  CELERITY  OF  JUSTICE  329 

Isfahan,  asking  him  to  provide  me  with  an  escort  if  I 
needed  it.  I  was  glad  to  thank  him  for  his  courtesy  in 
this  matter,  and  for  more  substantial  help.  Before  his 
visit,  his  retainer,  Mansur,  brought  me  the  money  of 
which  I  had  been  robbed  in  Kali  va  Rukh !  This  man 
absolutely  refused  a  present,  saying  that  his  liege  lord 
would  nearly  kill  him  if  he  took  one.  Isfandyar  Khan 
welcomed  me  kindly,  regretting  much  that  ray  first  night 
under  Bakhtiari  rule  should  have  been  marked  by  a 
robbery.  He  said  that  before  his  day  the  tribesmen  not 
only  robbed,  but  killed,  and  that  he  had  reduced  them  to 
such  order  that  he  was  surprised  as  well  as  shocked  at 
this  occurrence.  I  replied  that  it  occurred  in  a  Persian 
village,  and  that  in  many  countries  one  might  be  robbed, 
but  in  none  that  I  knew  of  would  such  quick  restitution 
be  made. 

In  cases  of  robbery,  the  Ilkhani  sends  round  to  the 
ketchudas  or  headmen  of  the  camps  or  villages  of  the 
offending  district,  to  replace  the  money,  as  in  my  case,  or 
the  value  of  the  thing  taken,  after  which  the  thief  must 
be  caught  if  possible.  When  caught,  the  headmen 
consult  as  to  his  punishment,  which  may  be  the  cutting 
off  of  a  hand  or  nose,  or  to  be  severely  branded.  In  any 
case  he  must  be  for  the  future  a  marked  man.  I  gather 
that  the  most  severe  penalties  are  rarely  inflicted.  I 
hope  the  fine  of  800  krans  levied  on  Kahva  Rukh  may 
stimulate  the  people  to  surrender  the  thief.  I  agreed  to 
forego  200  krans,  as  Isfandyar  Khan  says  that  his  men 
raised  all  they  could,  and  the  remaining  sum  would  have 
to  be  paid  by  himself. 

After  a  good  deal  of  earnest  conversation  he  became 
frivolous !  He  asked  the  Agha  his  age,  and  guessed  it  at 
thirty-five.  On  being  enlightened  he  asked  if  he  dyed 
his  hair,  and  if  his  teeth  were  his  own.  Then  he  said 
that  he  dyed  his  own  hair,  and  wore  artificial  teeth.  He 


.SO  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER 

also  asked  my  age.  He  and  Lutf  and  Ghulam,  the 
Ilkhani's  sons,  who  accompanied  him,  possess  superb 
watches,  with  two  dials,  and  an  arrangement  for  showing 
the  phases  of  the  moon. 

Having  accepted  an  invitation  from  the  Ilbegi  to  visit 
him  at  Naghun,  a  village  ten  miles  from  Ardal,  accom- 
panied by  Lutf  and  Ghulam,  we  were  ready  at  seven, 
the  hour  appointed,  as  the  day  promised  to  be  very  hot 
Eight  o'clock  came,  nine  o'clock,  half-past  nine,  and  on 
sending  to  see  if  the  young  Khans  were  coming,  the 
servants  replied  that  they  had  "  no  orders  to  wake  them." 
So  we  Europeans  broiled  three  hours  in  the  sun  at  the 
pleasure  of  "  barbarians  "  ! 

During  the  Ramazan  these  people  revel  from  sunset 
to  sunrise,  with  feasting,  music,  singing,  and  merriment, 
and  then  they  lie  in  bed  till  noon  or  later,  to  abridge  the 
long  hours  of  the  fast  "  Is  it  such  a  fast  that  I  have 
chosen  ? "  may  well  be  asked. 

The  noise  during  the  night  in  the  Ilkhani's  palace  is 
tremendous.  The  festivities  begin  soon  after  sunset  and 
go  on  till  an  hour  before  dawn.  Odours  agreeable  to 
Bakhtiari  noses  are  wafted  down  to  my  tent,  but  I  do 
not  find  them  appetising.  An  eatable  called  zalabi  is  in 
great  request  during  the  Ramazan.  It  is  made  by  mixing 
sugar  and  starch  with  oil  of  sesamum,  and  is  poured  on 
ready  heated  copper  trays,  and  frizzled  into  fritters. 
Masses  of  eggs  mixed  with  rice,  clarified  butter,  and  jams, 
concealing  balls  of  highly-spiced  mincemeat,  kabobs,  and 
mutton  stewed  with  preserved  lemon  juice  and  onions  are 
favourite  dishes  at  the  Ilkhani's. 

Besides  the  music  and  singing,  the  "  Court "  entertains 
itself  nightly  with  performing  monkeys  and  dancing  men, 
besides  story-tellers,  and  reciters  of  the  poetry  of  Hafiz. 
It  is  satisfactory  to  know  that  the  uproarious  merriment 
which  drifts  down  to  my  tent  along  with  odours  of  per- 


LETTER  xiv     A  BAKHTIARI  ENTERTAINMENT  331 

petual  frying,  owes  none  of  its  inspiration  to  alcohol, 
coffee  and  sharbat  being  the  drinks  consumed. 

We  rode  without  a  guide  down  the  Ardal  valley,  took 
the  worst  road  through  some  deep  and  blazing  gulches, 
found  the  sun  fierce,  and  the  treelessness  irksome,  saw 
much  ploughing,  made  a  long  ascent,  and  stopped  short 
of  the  village  of  Naghun  at  a  large  walled  garden  on  the 
arid  hillside,  which  irrigation  has  turned  into  a  shady 
paradise  of  pear,  apricot,  and  walnut  trees,  with  a 
luxurious  undergrowth  of  roses  and  pomegranates.  The 
young  Khans  galloped  up  just  as  we  did,  laughing  heartily 
at  having  slept  so  late.  All  the  village  men  were 
gathered  to  see  the  Feringhis,  and  the  Ilbegi  and  his 
brothers  received  us  at  the  garden  gate,  all  shaking  hands. 
Certainly  this  Khan  has  much  power  in  his  face,  and  his 
dignified  and  easy  manner  is  that  of  a  leader  of  men. 
His  dress  was  becoming,  a  handsome  dark  blue  cloak 
lined  with  scarlet,  and  with  a  deep  fur  collar,  over  his 
ordinary  costume. 

So  much  has  been  said  and  written  about  the  Bakh- 
tiaris  being  "  savages  "  or  "  semi-savages,"  that  the  enter- 
tainment which  followed  was  quite  a  surprise  to  me. 
Two  fine  canopy  tents  were  pitched  in  the  shade,  and 
handsome  carpets  were  laid  in  them,  and  under  a  spread- 
ing walnut  tree  a  karri,  or  fire  cover,  covered  with  a  rug, 
served  as  a  table,  and  cigarettes,  a  bowl  of  ice,  a  glass  jug 
of  sharbat,  and  some  tumblers  were  neatly  arranged  upon 
it.  Iron  chairs  were  provided  for  the  European  guests, 
and  the  Ilbegi,  his  brothers,  the  Ilkhani's  sons,  and  others 
sat  round  the  border  of  the  carpet  on  which  they  were 
placed.  There  were  fully  fifty  attendants.  Into  the 
midst  of  this  masculine  crowd,  a  male  nurse  brought  the 
Ilbegi's  youngest  child,  a  dark,  quiet,  pale,  wistful  little 
girl  of  four  years  old,  a  daintily-dressed  little  creature, 
with  a  crimson  velvet  cap,  and  a  green  and  crimson  velvet 


332  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xiv 

frock.     She  was  gentle  and  confiding,  and  liked  to  remain 
with  me. 

After  a  long  conversation  on  subjects  more  or  less 
worth  speaking  upon,  our  hosts  retired,  to  sleep  under  the 
trees,  leaving  us  to  eat,  and  a  number  of  servants  brought 
in  a  large  karsi  covered  with  food.  Several  yards  of 
blanket  bread,  or  "  flapjacks,"  served  as  a  table-cloth,  and 
another  for  the  dish-cover  of  a  huge  pillau  in  the  centre. 
Cruets,  plates,  knives  and  forks,  iced  water,  Russian 
lemonade,  and  tumblers  were  all  provided.  The  dinner 
consisted  of  pillau,  lamb  cutlets,  a  curried  fowl,  celery 
with  sour  sauce,  clotted  cream,  and  sour  milk.  The 
food  was  well  cooked  and  clean,  and  the  servants,  rough 
as  they  looked,  were  dexterous  and  attentive. 

After  dinner,  by  the  llbegi's  wish,  I  paid  a  visit- 
to  the  ladies  of  his  haram.  Naghun  rivals  the  other 
villages  of  the  tribes  in  containing  the  meanest  and 
worst  permanent  habitations  I  have  ever  seen.  Isfandyar 
Khan's  house  is  a  mud  building  surrounding  a  courtyard, 
through  which  the  visitor  passes  into  another,  round 
which  are  the  women's  apartments.  Both  yards  were 
forlorn,  uneven,  and  malodorous,  from  the  heaps  of  offal 
and  rubbish  lying  under  the  hot  sun.  I  was  received  by 
fifteen  ladies  in  a  pleasant,  clean,  whitewashed  apartment, 
with  bright  rugs  and  silk-covered  pillows  on  the  floor, 
and  glass  bottles  and  other  ornaments  in  the  takchahs. 

At  the  top  of  the  room  I  was  welcomed,  not  by  the 
principal  wife,  but  by  a  portly  middle-aged  woman,  the 
Khan's  sister,  and  evidently  the  duenna  of  the  haram,  as 
not  one  of  the  other  women  ventured  to  speak,  or  to  offer 
any  courtesies.  A  chair  was  provided  for  me  with  a 
karsi  in  front  of  it,  covered  with  trays  of  gaz  and  other 
sweetmeats.  Mirza  and  a  male  attendant  stood  in  the 
doorway,  and  outside  shoals  of  women  and  children  on 
tip-toe  were  struggling  for  a  glance  into  the  room. 


LETTER  xiv  THE  ILBEGI'S  WIVES  333 

Several  slaves  were  present,  coal-black,  woolly -headed, 
huge -mouthed  negresses.  The  fifteen  ladies  held  their 
gay  chadars  to  their  faces  so  as  to  show  only  one  eye,  so 
I  sent  Mirza  behind  a  curtain  and  asked  for  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  their  faces,  when  they  all  unveiled  with  shrieks 
of  laughter. 

The  result  was  disappointing.  The  women  were  all 
young,  or  youngish,  but  only  one  was  really  handsome. 
The  wives  are  brunettes  with  long  chins.  They  wore 
gay  chadars  of  muslin,  short  gold -embroidered  jackets, 
gauze  chemises,  and  bright  -  coloured  balloon  trousers. 
Three  of  the  others  wore  black  satin  balloon  trousers, 
black  silk  jackets,  yellow  gauze  vests,  and  black  chadars 
spotted  with  white.  These  three  were  literally  moon- 
faced, like  the  representations  of  the  moon  on  old  clocks, 
a  type  I  have  not  yet  seen.  All  wear  the  hair  brought 
to  the  front,  where  it  hangs  in  wavy  masses  on  each  side 
of  the  face.  They  wore  black  silk  gold -embroidered 
skull-caps,  set  back  on  their  heads,  and  long  chains  of 
gold  coins  from  the  back  to  the  ear,  with  two,  three,  or 
four  long  necklaces  of  the  same  in  which  the  coins  were 
very  large  and  handsome.  One  wife,  a  young  creature, 
was  poorly  dressed,  very  dejected -looking,  and  destitute 
of  ornaments.  Her  mother  has  since  pleaded  for  some- 
thing "  to  bring  back  her  husband's  love."  The  eyebrows 
were  painted  with  indigo  and  were  made  to  meet  in  a 
point  on  the  bridge  of  the  nose.  Each  had  one  stained 
or  tattooed  star  on  her  forehead,  three  on  her  chin,  and  a 
galaxy  on  the  back  of  each  hand. 

Before  Mirza  reappeared  they  huddled  themselves  up 
in  their  chadars  and  sat  motionless  against  the  wall  as 
before.  After  tea  I  had  quite  a  lively  conversation  with 
the  Khan's  sister,  who  has  been  to  Basrah,  Baghdad,  and 
Mecca. 

Besides  the  usual  questions  as  to  my  age,  dyeing  my 


334  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xiv 

hair,  painting  my  face,  etc.,  with  suggestions  on  the 
improvement  which  their  methods  would  make  on  my 
eyes  and  eyebrows,  she  asked  a  little  about  my  journeys, 
about  the  marriage  customs  of  England,  about  divorce,  the 
position  of  women  with  us,  their  freedom,  horsemanship, 
and  amusements.  She  said,  "  We  don't  ride,  we  sit  on 
horses."  Dancing  for  amusement  she  could  not  under- 
stand. "  Our  servants  dance  for  us,"  she  said.  The 
dancing  of  men  and  women  together,  and  the  evening 
dress  of  Englishwomen,  she  thought  contrary  to  the 
elementary  principles  of  morality.  I  wanted  them  to  have 
their  photographs  taken,  but  they  said,  "  It  is  not  the 
custom  of  our  country  ;  no  good  women  have  their  pictures 
taken,  we  should  have  many  things  said  against  us  if 
we  were  made  into  pictures." 

They  wanted  to  give  me  presents,  but  I  made  my 
usual  excuse,  that  I  have  made  a  rule  not  to  receive 
presents  in  travelling;  then  they  said  that  they  would 
go  and  see  me  in  my  tent  at  Chigakhor,  their  summer 
quarters,  and  that  I  could  not  refuse  what  they  took  in 
their  own  hands.  They  greatly  desired  to  see  the  Agha, 
of  whose  imposing  physique  they  had  heard,  but  they  said 
that  the  Khan  would  not  like  them  to  go  to  the  garden, 
and  that  their  wish  must  remain  ungratified.  "  We  lead 
such  dull  lives,"  the  Khan's  sister  exclaimed ;  "  we  never 
see  any  one  or  go  anywhere."  It  seems  that  the  slightest 
development  of  intellect  awakens  them  to  the  con- 
sciousness of  this  deplorable  dulness,  of  which,  fortunately, 
the  unawakened  intelligence  is  unaware.  As  a  fact,  two 
of  the  ladies  have  not  been  out  of  the  Ardal  valley,  and 
are  looking  forward  to  the  migration  to  the  Chigakhor 
valley  as  to  a  great  gaiety. 

They  asked  me  if  I  could  read,  and  if  I  made  carpets  ? 
They  invariably  ask  if  I  have  a  husband  and  children, 
and  when  I  tell  them  that  I  am  a  widow  and  childless, 


LETTER  xiv  A  KINDLY  HYPOCRISY  335 

they  simulate  weeping  for  one  or  two  minutes,  a  hypocrisy 
which,  though  it  proceeds  from  a  kindly  feeling,  has  a 
very  painful  effect  Their  occupation  in  the  winter  is  a 
little  carpet-weaving,  which  takes  the  place  of  our  "  fancy- 
work."  They  also  make  a  species  of  nougat,  from  the 
manna  found  on  the  oaks  on  some  of  their  mountains, 
mixed  with  chopped  almonds  and  rose-water.  When  I 
concluded  my  visit  they  sent  a  servant  with  me  with  a 
tray  of  this  and  other  sweetmeats  of  their  own  making. 

The  party  in  the  garden  was  a  very  merry  one.  The 
Bakhtiaris  love  fun,  and  shrieked  with  laughter  at  many 
things.  This  jollity,  however,  did  not  exclude  topics  of 
interesting  talk.  During  this  time  Karun,  a  handsome 
chestnut  Arab,  and  my  horse  Screw  had  a  fierce  fight,  and 
Karim,  a  Beloochi,  in  separating  them  had  his  arm  severely 
crunched  and  torn,  the  large  muscles  being  exposed  and 
lacerated.  He  was  brought  in  faint  and  bleeding,  and  in 
great  pain,  and  will  not  be  of  any  use  for  some  time. 
The  Agha  asked  the  Ilbegi  for  two  lads  to  go  with  him 
to  help  his  servants.  The  answer  was,  "  We  are  a  wander- 
ing people,  Bakhtiaris  cannot  be  servants,  but  some  of 
our  young  men  will  go  with  you," — and  three  brothers 
joined  us  there,  absolute  savages  in  their  ways.  A  cow 
was  offered  for  the  march,  and  on  the  Agha  jocularly 
saying  that  he  should  have  all  the  milk,  the  Ilbegi  said 
that  I  should  have  one  to  myself,  and  sent  two.  He 
complained  that  I  did  not  ask  for  anything,  and  said 
that  I  was  their  guest  so  long  as  I  was  in  their  country, 
and  must  treat  them  as  brothers  and  ask  for  all  I  need. 
"  Don't  feel  as  if  you  were  in  a  foreign  land  "  he  said ;  "  we 
love  the  English."  I.  L.  B. 


;;.-,.;  JOl'llNKYS    IN    I'KIISIA  Lun  i 


LETTER  XV 

ARDAL,  May  14. 

THE  week  spent  here  has  passed  rapidly.  There  is  much 
coming  and  going.  My  camp  is  by  the  side  of  a 
frequented  pathway,  close  to  a  delicious  spring,  much 
resorted  to  by  Ilyat  women,  who  draw  water  in  mussocks 
and  copper  pots,  and  gossip  there.  The  Dyata  are  on 
the  march  to  their  summer  quarters,  and  the  steady  tramp 
of  their  flocks  and  herds  and  the  bleating  of  their  sheep 
is  heard  at  intervals  throughout  the  nights.  Sometimes 
one  of  their  horses  or  cows  stumbles  over  the  tent  ropes 
and  nearly  brings  the  tent  down.  Servants  of  the  Ilkhani 
with  messages  and  presents  of  curds,  celery  pickled  in 
sour  cream,  and  apricots,  go  to  and  fro.  Sick  people 
come  at  intervals  all  day  long,  and  the  medicine  chest  is 
in  hourly  requisition. 

The  sick  are  not  always  satisfied  with  occasional 
visits  to  the  Hakim's  tent:  a  man,  who  has  a  little 
daughter  ill  of  jaundice,  after  coming  twice  for  medicine, 
has  brought  a  tent,  and  has  established  himself  in  it  with 
his  child  close  to  me,  and  a  woman  with  bad  eyes  has 
also  pitched  a  tent  near  mine ;  at  present  thirteen  people 
come  twice  daily  to  have  zinc  lotion  dropped  into  their 
eyes.  The  fame  of  the  "tabloids"  has  been  widely 
spread,  and  if  I  take  common  powders  out  of  papers,  or 
liquids  out  of  bottles,  the  people  shake  their  heads  and 
say  they  do  not  want  those,  but  "  the  fine  medicines  out  of 


LETTER  xv  THE  ARDAL  PLATEAU  337 

the  leather  box."  To  such  an  extent  is  this  preference 
carried  that  they  reject  decoctions  of  a  species  of  artemisia, 
a  powerful  tonic,  unless  I  put  tabloids  of  permanganate  of 
potass  (Condy's  fluid)  into  the  bottle  before  their  eyes. 

They  have  no  idea  of  the  difference  between  curable 
and  incurable  maladies.  Many  people,  stone  blind,  have 
come  long  distances  for  eye-lotion,  and  to-night  a  man 
nearly  blind  came  in,  leading  a  man  totally  blind  for 
eight  years,  asking  me  to  restore  his  sight  The  blind 
had  led  the  blind  from  a  camp  twenty-four  miles  off! 
Octogenarians  believe  that  I  can  give  them  back  their 
hearing,  and  men  with  crippled  or  paralysed  limbs  think 
that  if  I  would  give  them  some  "  Feringhi  ointment,"  of 
which  they  have  heard,  they  would  be  restored.  Some 
come  to  stare  at  a  Feringhi  lady,  others  to  see  my  tent, 
which  they  occasionally  say  is  "  fit  for  Allah,"  and  the 
general  result  is  that  I  have  very  little  time  to  myself. 

The  Ardal  plateau  is  really  pretty  at  this  season,  and 
I  have  had  many  pleasant  evening  gallops  over  soft  green 
grass  and  soft  red  earth.  The  view  from  the  tent  is 
pleasant:  on  the  one  side  the  green  slopes  which  fall 
down  to  the  precipices  which  overhang  the  Karun,  with 
the  snowy  mountains,  deeply  cleft,  of  the  region  which  is 
still  a  geographical  mystery  beyond  them ;  on  the  other, 
mountains  of  naked  rock  with  grass  running  up  into 
their  ravines,  and  between  them  and  me  billows  of  grass 
and  wild  flowers.  A  barley  slope  comes  down  to  my 
tent.  The  stalks  are  only  six  inches  long,  and  the  ears, 
though  ripe,  contain  almost  nothing.  Every  evening  a 
servant  of  the  Ilkhani  brings  three  little  wild  boars  to 
feed  on  the  grain.  Farther  down  the  path  are  the 
servants'  and  muleteers'  camps,  surrounded  by  packing- 
cases,  yekdans,  mule -bags,  nose -bags,  gear  of  all  kinds, 
and  the  usual  litter  of  an  encampment 

The  men,  whether  Indian,  Persian,  Beloochi,  or 
VOL.  i  z 


338  JOURNEYS  IN   PKKSIA  LETTER  xv 

Bakhtiari,  are  all  quiet  and  well-behaved  The  motto  of 
the  camps  is  "  Silence  is  golden."  Hadji  Hussein  is 
quiet  in  manner  and  speech,  and  though  he  has  seven 
muleteers,  yells  and  shouts  are  unknown. 

There  is  something  exciting  in  the  prospect  of  travel- 
ling through  a  region  much  of  which  is  unknown  and 
unmapped,  and  overlooked  hitherto  by  both  geographical 
and  commercial  enterprise ;  and  in  the  prospective  good 
fortune  of  learning  the  manners  and  customs  of  tribes 
untouched  by  European  influence,  and  about  whose  re- 
ception of  a  Feringhi  woman  doleful  prophecies  have 
been  made. 

Tur,  May  18. — The  last  day  at  Ardal  was  a  busy 
one.  Several  of  the  Khans  called  to  take  leave.  I  made 
a  farewell  visit  to  the  Ilkhani's  haram ;  people  came  for 
medicines  at  intervals  from  5  A.M.  till  9  P.M. ;  numberless 
eye-lotions  had  to  be  prepared ;  stores,  straps,  ropes,  and 
equipments  had  to  be  looked  to ;  presents  to  be  given 
to  the  Ilkhani's  servants  ;  native  shoes,  with  webbing 
tops  and  rag  soles,  to  be  hunted  for  to  replace  boots 
which  could  not  be  mended,  and  it  was  late  before  the 
preparations  were  completed.  During  the  night  some  of 
my  tent  ropes  were  snapped  by  a  stampede  of  mules, 
and  a  heavy  thunderstorm  coming  on  with  wind  and 
rain,  the  tent  flapped  about  my  ears  till  dawn. 

It  was  very  hot  when  we  left  the  next  morning.  The 
promised  escort  was  not  forthcoming.  The  details  of 
each  day's  march  have  been  much  alike.  I  start  early, 
taking  Mirza  with  me  with  the  shuldari,  halt  usually 
half-way,  and  have  a  frugal  lunch  of  milk  and  bis- 
cuits, read  till  the  caravan  has  passed,  rest  in  my  tent 
for  an  hour,  and  ride  on  till  I  reach  the  spot  chosen 
for  the  camp.  Occasionally  on  arriving  it  is  found 
that  the  place  selected  on  local  evidence  is  unsuit- 
able, or  the  water  is  scanty  or  bad,  and  we  march  farther. 


LETTER  xv  THE  BAGGAGE  ANIMALS  339 

The  greatest  luxury  is  to  find  the  tent  pitched,  the  camp 
bed  put  up,  and  the  kettle  boiling  for  afternoon  tea. 
I  rest,  write,  and  work  till  near  sunset,  when  I  dine 
on  mutton  and  rice,  and  go  to  bed  soon  after  dark,  as  I 
breakfast  at  four.  An  hour  or  two  is  taken  up  daily 
with  giving  medicines  to  sick  people. 

There  are  no  villages,  but  camps  occur  frequently. 
The  three  young  savages  brought  from  Naghun  are  very 
amusing  from  the  savage  freedom  of  their  ways,  but  they 
exasperate  the  servants  by  quizzing  and  mimicking  them. 
The  cows  are  useless.  Between  them  they  give  at  most 
a  teacupful  of  milk,  and  generally  none.  Either  the 
calves  or  the  boys  take  it,  or  the  marches  are  too  much 
for  them.  In  the  Ilyat  camps  there  is  plenty,  but  as  it 
is  customary  to  mix  the  milk  of  sheep,  goats,  and  cows, 
and  to  milk  the  animals  with  dirty  hands  into  dirty 
copper  pots,  and  almost  at  once  to  turn  the  milk  into  a 
sour  mass,  like  whipped  cream  in  appearance,  by  shaking 
it  with  some  "  leaven  "  in  a  dirty  goat-skin,  a  European 
cannot  always  drink  it.  Indeed,  it  goes  through  every 
variety  of  bad  taste. 

The  camps  halt  on  Sundays,  and  the  men  highly 
appreciate  the  rest.  They  sleep,  smoke,  wash  and  mend 
their  clothes,  and  are  in  good  humour  and  excellent  trim 
on  Monday  morning,  and  the  mules  show  their  uncon- 
scious appreciation  of  a  holiday  by  coming  into  camp 
kicking  and  frolicking. 

The  baggage  animals  are  fine,  powerful  mules  and 
horses,  with  not  a  sore  back  among  them.  The  pack 
saddles  and  tackle  are  all  in  good  order.  The  caravan 
is  led  by  a  horse  caparisoned  with  many  bells  and  tassels, 
a  splendid  little  gray  fellow,  full  of  pluck  and  fire,  called 
Cock  o'  the  Walk.  He  comes  in  at  the  end  of  a  long 
march,  arching  his  neck,  shaking  his  magnificent  mane, 
and  occasionally  kicking  off  his  load.  Sometimes  he 


340  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xv 

knocks  down  two  or  three  men,  dashes  off  with  his  load  at 
a  gallop,  and  even  when  hobbled  manages  to  hop  up  to  the 
two  Arabs  and  challenge  them  to  a  fight  These  handsome 
horses  have  some  of  the  qualities  for  which  their  breed  is 
famous,  and  are  as  surefooted  as  goate,  but  they  are  very 
noisy,  and  they  hate  each  other  and  disturb  the  peace  of 
the  camp  by  their  constant  attempts  to  fight  My  horse, 
Screw,  can  go  wherever  a  mule  can  find  foothold.  He 
is  ugly,  morose,  a  great  fighter,  and  most  uninteresting. 
The  donkeys  and  a  fat  retriever  are  destitute  of  "salient 
points." 

Hadji  Hussein,  the  charvadar,  has  elevated  his  pro- 
fession into  an  art.  On  reaching  camp,  after  unloading, 
each  muleteer  takes  away  the  five  animals  for  which  he 
is  responsible,  and  liberates  them,  with  the  saddles  on,  to 
graze.  After  a  time  they  drive  them  into  camp,  remove  the 
saddles,  and  groom  them  thoroughly,  while  the  saddler  goes 
over  the  equipments,  and  does  any  repairs  that  are  needed. 
After  the  grooming  each  muleteer,  having  examined  the 
feet  of  his  animals,  reports  upon  them,  and  Hadji  replaces 
all  lost  shoes  and  nails.  The  saddles  and  the  juls  or 
blankets  are  then  put  on,  the  mules  are  watered  in 
batches  of  five,  and  are  turned  loose  for  the  night  to  feed, 
with  two  muleteers  to  watch  them  by  turns.  Hadji,  whose 
soft  voice  and  courteous  manners  make  all  dealings  with 
him  agreeable,  receives  his  orders  for  the  morrow,  and  he 
with  his  young  son,  Abbas  Ali,  and  the  rest  of  the  mule- 
teers, camp  near  my  tent,  cook  their  supper  of  blanket 
bread  with  mast  or  curds,  roll  their  heads  and  persons  iii 
blankets,  put  their  feet  to  the  fire,  and  are  soon  asleep, 
but  Hadji  gets  up  two  or  three  times  in  the  night  to  look 
after  his  valuable  property. 

At  4  A.M.  or  earlier,  the  mules  are  driven  into  camp, 
and  are  made  fast  to  ropes,  which  are  arranged  the  previous 
night  by  pegging  them  down  in  an  oblong  forty  feet  by 


LETTER  xv  HADJI  HUSSEIN  341 

twenty.  Nose-bags  with  grain  are  put  on ;  and  as  the 
loads  are  got  ready  the  mules  are  loaded,  with  Hadji's  help 
and  supervision.  No  noise  is  allowed  during  this  operation. 

After  an  hour  or  more  the  caravan  moves,  led  by  Cock 
o'  the  Walk,  usually  with  two  men  at  his  head  to  mode- 
rate his  impetuosity  for  a  time,  with  a  guide ;  and  Hadji 
on  his  fine-looking  saddle  mule  looks  after  the  safety  of 
everything.  He  is  punctual,  drives  fast  and  steadily,  and 
always  reaches  the  camping-ground  in  good  time.  When 
he  gets  near  it  he  dismounts,  and  putting  on  the  air  of 
"  your  most  obedient  servant,"  leads  in  Cock  o'  the  Walk. 
He  is  really  a  very  gentlemanly  man  for  his  position,  but 
is  unfortunately  avaricious,  and  though  he  has  amassed 
what  is,  for  Persia,  a  very  large  fortune,  he  wears  very 
poor  clothes,  and  eats  sparingly  of  the  poorest  food.  He 
is  a  big  man  of  fifty,  wears  blue  cotton  clothing  and  a 
red  turban,  is  very  florid,  and  having  a  white  or  very  gray 
beard,  has  dyed  it  an  orange  red  with  henna. 

My  servants  have  fallen  fairly  well  into  their  work, 
but  are  frightfully  slow.  All  pitch  the  tents,  and  Hassan 
cooks,  washes,  packs  the  cooking  and  table  equipments, 
and  saddles  my  horse.  Mirza  Yusuf  interprets,  waits  on 
me,  packs  the  tent  furnishings,  rides  with  me,  and  is 
always  within  hearing  of  my  whistle.  He  is  good, 
truthful,  and  intelligent,  sketches  with  some  talent,  is 
always  cheerful,  never  grumbles,  is  quite  indifferent  to 
personal  comfort,  gets  on  well  with  the  people,  is  obliging 
to  every  one,  is  always  ready  to  interpret,  and  though 
well  educated  has  the  good  sense  not  to  regard  any  work 
as  "  menial."  Mehemet  Ali,  the  "  superfluity,"  is  a  scamp, 
and,  I  fear,  dishonest.  The  servants  feed  themselves  on 
a  kran  (8d.)  a  day,  allowed  as  "  road  money."  Sheep 
are  driven  with  us,  and  are  turned  into  mutton  as  re- 
quired. Really,  they  follow  us,  attaching  themselves  to 
the  gray  horses,  and  feeding  almost  among  their  feet. 


342  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xv 

My  food  consists  of  roast  mutton,  rice,  chapaltits,  tea, 
and  milk,  without  luxuries  or  variety.  Life  is  very 
simple  and  very  free  from  purposeless  bothers.  The  days 
are  becoming  very  hot,  but  the  nights  are  cool  The 
black  flies  and  the  sand-flies  are  the  chief  tormentors. 

On  leaving  Ardal  we  passed  very  shortly  into  a  region 
little  traversed  by  Europeans,  embracing  remarkable 
gorges  and  singularly  abrupt  turns  in  ravines,  through 
which  the  Karun,  here  a  deep  and  powerful  stream,  finds 
its  way.  A  deep  descent  over  grassy  hills  to  a  rude 
village  in  a  valley  and  a  steep  ascent  took  us  to  the  four 
booths,  which  are  the  summer  quarters  of  our  former 
escort,  Rustem  Khan,  who  received  us  with  courteous 
hospitality,  and  regaled  us  with  fresh  cow's  milk  in  a 
copper  basin.  He  introduced  me  to  twelve  women  and 
a  number  of  children,  nearly  all  with  sore  eyes.  There 
is  not  a  shadow  of  privacy  in  these  tents,  with  open 
fronts  and  sides.  The  carpets,  which  are  made  by  the 
women,  serve  as  chairs,  tables,  and  beds,  and  the  low 
wall  of  roughly-heaped  stones  at  the  back  for  trunks  and 
wardrobe,  for  on  it  they  keep  their  "  things  "  in  immense 
saddle-bags  made  of  handsome  rugs.  The  visible  furni- 
ture consists  of  a  big  copper  bowl  for  food,  a  small  one 
for  milk,  a  huge  copper  pot  for  clarifying  butter,  and  a 
goat-skin  suspended  from  three  poles,  which  is  jerked  by 
two  women  seated  on  the  ground,  and  is  used  for  churn- 
ing butter  and  making  curds. 

A  steep  ascent  gives  a  superb  view  of  a  confused  sea 
of  mountains,  and  of  a  precipitous  and  tremendous  gorge, 
the  Tang-i- Ardal,  through  which  the  Karun  passes,  making 
a  singularly  abrupt  turn  after  leaving  a  narrow  and 
apparently  inaccessible  canon  or  rift  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Ardal  valley.  A  steep  zigzag  descent  of  600  feet 
in  less  than  three-quarters  of  a  mile  brings  the  path 
down  to  the  Karun,  a  deep  bottle-green  river,  now 


LETTER  xv  STONE  LIONS  343 

swirling  in  drifts  of  foam,  now  resting  momentarily  in 
quiet  depths,  but  always  giving  an  impression  of  volume 
and  power.  Large  and  small  land  turtles  abound  in 
that  fiercely  hot  gorge  of  from  1000  to  2000  feet  deep. 
The  narrow  road  crosses  the  river  on  a  bridge  of  two 
arches,  and  proceeds  for  some  distance  at  a  considerable 
height  on  its  right  bank.  There  I  saw  natural  wood  for 
the  first  time  since  crossing  the  Zagros  mountains  in 
January,  and  though  the  oak,  ash,  and  maple  are  poor  and 
stunted,  their  slender  shade  was  delicious.  Roses,  irises, 
St.  John's  wort,  and  other  flowers  were  abundant 

The  path  ascends  past  a  clear  spring,  up  steep  zigzags 
to  a  graveyard  in  which  are  several  stone  lions,  rudely 
carved,  of  natural  size,  facing  Mecca-wards,  with  pistols, 
swords,  and  daggers  carved  in  relief  on  their  sides,  marking 
the  graves  of  fighting  men.  On  this  magnificent  point 
above  the  Karun  a  few  hovels,  deserted  in  summer,  sur- 
rounded by  apricot  trees  form  the  village  of  Duashda 
Imams,  which  has  a  superb  view  of  the  extraordinary  and 
sinuous  chasm  through  which  the  Karun  passes  for  many 
miles,  thundering  on  its  jagged  and  fretted  course  between 
gigantic  and  nearly  perpendicular  cliffs  of  limestone  and 
conglomerate.  Near  this  village  the  pistachio  is  abundant, 
and  planes,  willows,  and  a  large-leaved  clematis  vary  the 
foliage. 

Leaving  the  river  at  this  point,  a  somewhat  illegible 
path  leads  through  "park -like"  scenery,  fair  slopes  of 
grass  and  flowers  sprinkled  with  oaks  singly  or  in  clumps, 
glades  among  trees  in  their  first  fresh  green,  and  evermore 
as  a  background  gray  mountains  slashed  with  snow. 

In  the  midst  of  these  pretty  uplands  is  the  Ilyat 
encampment  of  Martaza,  with  its  black  tents,  donkeys, 
sheep,  goats,  and  big  fierce  dogs,  which  vociferously  rushed 
upon  Downie,  the  retriever,  and  were  themselves  rushed 
upon  and  gripped  by  a  number  of  women.  The  people, 


344  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xv 

having  been  informed  of  our  intended  arrival  by  Beza  Kuli 
Khan,  had  arranged  a  large  tent  with  carpets  and  cushions, 
but  we  pitched  the  camps  eventually  on  an  oak-covered 
slope,  out  of  the  way  of  the  noise,  curiosity,  and  evil  odours 
of  Martaza.  Water  is  very  scarce  there,  three  wells  or 
pools,  fouled  by  the  feet  of  animals,  being  the  only 
supply. 

I  rested  on  my  dhurrie  under  an  oak  till  the  caravan 
came  up.  It  was  a  sweet  place,  but  was  soon  invaded, 
and  for  the  rest  of  the  day  quiet  and  privacy  were  out 
of  the  question,  for  presently  appeared  a  fine,  florid, 
buxom  dame,  loud  of  speech,  followed  by  a  number  of 
women  and  children,  all  as  dirty  as  it  is  possible  to  be, 
and  all  crowded  round  me  and  sat  down  on  my  carpet 
This  Khanum  Shirin  is  married  to  the  chief  or  headman, 
but  being  an  heiress  she  "  bosses  "  the  tribe.  She  brought 
up  bolsters  and  quilts,  and  begged  us  to  consider  themselves, 
the  whole  region,  and  all  they  had  as  piskkash  (a  present 
from  an  inferior  to  a  superior),  but  when  she  was  asked  if 
it  included  herself,  she  blushed  and  covered  her  face. 
After  two  hours  of  somewhat  flagging  conversation  she 
led  her  train  back  again,  but  after  my  tent  was  pitched 
she  reappeared  with  a  much  larger  number  of  women, 
including  two  betrothed  girls  of  sixteen  and  seventeen 
years  old,  who  are  really  beautiful 

These  maidens  were  dressed  in  clean  cotton  costumes, 
and  white  veils  of  figured  silk  gauze  enveloped  them 
from  head  to  foot  They  unveiled  in  my  tent,  and 
looked  more  like  hmiris  than  any  women  I  have  seen  in 
the  East ;  and  their  beauty  was  enhanced  by  the  sweet- 
ness and  maidenly  modesty  of  their  expression.  I  wished 
them  to  be  photographed,  and  they  were  quite  willing, 
but  when  I  took  them  outside  some'  men  joined  the 
crowd  and  said  it  should  not  be,  and  that  when  their 
betrothed  husbands  came  home  they  would  tell  them 


LETTER  xv  THE  KHANUM  SHIRIN  345 

how  bold  and  bad  they  had  been,  and  would  have  them 
beaten.  Although  these  beauties  had  been  most  modest 
and  maidenly  in  their  behaviour,  they  were  sent  back 
with  blows,  and  were  told  not  to  come  near  us  again. 
The  Agha  entertained  the  Khanum  Shirin  for  a  long  time, 
and  the  conversation  was  very  animated,  but  when  he  set 
a  very  fine  musical  box  going  for  their  amusement  the 
lady  and  the  rest  of  the  crowd  became  quite  listless  and 
apathetic,  and  said  they  much  preferred  to  talk.  When 
their  prolonged  visit  came  to  an  end  the  Khanum  led 
her  train  away,  with  a  bow  which  really  had  something 
of  graceful  dignity  in  it 

The  next  morning  her  husband,  the  Mollah-i-Martaza, 
and  his  son,  mounted  on  one  horse,  came  with  us  as 
guides,  and  when  we  halted  at  their  camp  the  Khanum 
took  the  whip  out  of  my  hand  and  whipped  the  women 
all  round  with  it,  except  the  offending  beauties,  who 
were  not  to  be  seen.  The  mollah  is  a  grave,  quiet,  and 
most  respectable  -  looking  man,  more  like  a  thriving 
merchant  than  a  nomad  chief,  though  he  does  carry 
arms.  He  is  a  devout  Moslem,  and  is  learned,  i.e.  he 
can  read  the  Koran. 

In  a  short  time  the  woodland  beauty  is  exchanged 
for  weedy  hills  and  slopes  strewn  with  boulders.  Getting 
other  guides  at  an  Ilyat  camp,  we  ascended  Sanginak,  a 
mountain  8200  feet  high,  from  the  top  of  which  a 
good  idea  of  the  local  topography  is  gained.  The  most 
striking  features  are  the  absence  of  definite  peaks  and 
the  tremendous  gorges  and  abrupt  turns  of  the  Karun, 
which  swallows  in  its  passage  all  minor  streams. 
Precipitous  ranges  of  great  altitude  hemmed  in  by 
ranges  yet  loftier,  snow -covered  or  snow -patched,  with 
deep  valleys  between  them,  well  grassed  and  often  well 
wooded,  great  clefts,  through  which  at  some  seasons 
streams  reach  the  Karun  ;  mountain  meadows  spotted  with 


346  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xv 

the  black  tents  of  Ilyats,  and  deserted  hovels  far  below, 
with  patches  of  wheat  and  barley,  make  up  the  land- 
scape. 

These  hills  are  covered  with  celery  of  immense  size. 
The  leaves  are  dried  and  stacked  for  fodder,  and  the 
underground  stalks,  which  are  very  white,  are  a  great 
article  of  food,  both  fresh  and  steeped  for  a  length  of 
time  in  sour  milk.  After  resting  in  some  Ilyat  tents, 
where  the  people  were  friendly  and  dirty,  we  had  a 
most  tiresome  march  over  treeless  hills  covered  with 
herbs,  and  down  a  steep  descent  into  the  Gurab  plain, 
on  which  a  great  wall  of  rocky  mountains  of  definite 
and  impressive  shapes  descends  in  broken  spurs.  My 
guide,  who  had  never  been  certain  about  the  way,  led 
me  wrong.  No  tents  were  visible,  the  nomads  I  met 
had  seen  neither  tents  nor  caravan.  Two  hours  went  by 
in  toiling  round  the  bases  of  green  hills,  and  then  there 
was  the  joyful  surprise  of  coming  upon  my  tent  pitched, 
the  kettle  boiling,  the  mules  knee-deep  in  food,  close  by 
the  Chesmeh-i-Gurab,  a  copious  spring  of  good  water,  of 
which  one  could  safely  drink. 

This  Gurab  plain,  one  of  very  many  lying  high  up 
among  these  Luristan  mountains,  is  green  and  pretty  now — 
a  sea  of  bulbs  and  grass,  but  is  brown  and  dusty  from 
early  in  June  onwards.  It  is  about  four  miles  long  by 
nine  or  ten  broad,  and  is  watered  by  a  clear  and  wonder- 
fully winding  stream,  which  dwindles  to  a  thread  later 
on.  The  nomads  are  already  coming  up. 

The  rest  was  much  broken  by  the  critical  state  of 
Karim's  arm,  which  was  swelled,  throbbing,  and  inflamed 
all  round  the  wound  inflicted  by  Karun  on  May  13, 
and  he  had  high  fever.  It  was  a  helpless  predicament, 
the  symptoms  were  so  like  those  of  gangrene.  I  thought 
he  would  most  likely  die  of  the  hot  marches.  It  was 
a  very  anxious  night,  as  all  our  methods  of  healing 


LETTER  xv         THE  TUR  CAMPING-GROUND  347 

were  exhausted,  and  the  singular  improvement  which 
set  in  and  has  continued  must  have  been  the  work  of 
the  Great  Physician,  to  whom  an  appeal  for  help  was 
earnestly  made.  The  wound  is  daily  syringed  with 
Condy's  fluid,  the  only  antiseptic  available,  and  has  a 
drainage  tube.  To-day  I  have  begun  to  use  eucalyptus 
oil,  with  which  the  man  is  delighted,  possibly  because  he 
has  heard  that  it  is  very  expensive,  and  that  I  have 
hardly  any  left ! 

Yesterday  I  had  the  amusement  of  shifting  the  camps 
to  another  place,  and  Hadji  was  somewhat  doubtful  of  ray 
leadership.  On  arriving  at  the  beautiful  crystal  spring 
which  the  guide  had  indicated  as  the  halting-place  for 
Sunday,  I  found  that  it  issued  from  under  a  mound  of 
grass-grown  graves,  was  in  the  full  sun  blaze,  and  at 
the  lowest  part  of  the  plain.  The  guide  asserted  that  it 
was  the  only  spring,  but  having  seen  a  dark  stain  of 
vegetation  high  among  the  hills,  I  halted  the  caravan 
and  rode  off  alone  in  search  of  the  water  I  hoped  it 
indicated,  disregarding  the  suppressed  but  unmistakably 
sneering  laughter  of  the  guide  and  charvadars.  In  less 
than  a  mile  I  came  upon  the  dry  bed  of  a  rivulet,  a  little 
higher  up  on  a  scanty,  intermittent  trickle,  higher  still  on 
a  gurgling  streamlet  fringed  by  masses  of  blue  scilla,  and 
still  higher  on  a  small  circular  spring  of  very  cold  water, 
with  two  flowery  plateaux  below  it  just  large  enough  for 
the  camps,  in  a  green  quiet  corrie,  with  the  mountains 
close  behind.  Hadji  laughed,  and  the  guide  insisted  that 
the  spring  was  not  always  there.  A  delightful  place  it 
is  in  which  to  spend  Sunday  quietly,  with  its  musical 
ripple  of  water,  its  sky-blue  carpet  of  scilla,  its  beds  of 
white  and  purple  irises,  its  slopes  ablaze  with  the 
Fritillaria  imperialis,  and  its  sweet,  calm  view  of  the  green 
Gurab  plain  and  the  silver  windings  of  the  Dinarud. 

Above  the  spring  is  the  precipitous  hill  of  Tur,  with 


348  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  UETTEB  xv 

the  remains  of  a  mde  fort  on  its  shattered  rocky  summit 
Two  similar  ruins  are  visible  from  Tur,  one  on  a 
rocky  ledge  of  an  offshoot  of  the  Kuh-i-Gerra,  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Dinarud  valley,  the  other  on  the  crest 
of  a  noble  headland  of  the  Sanganaki  range,  which  is 
visible  throughout  the  whole  region.  The  local  legend  con- 
cerning them  is  that  long  before  the  days  of  the  Parthian 
kings,  and  when  bows  and  arrows  were  the  only  weapons 
known,  iron  being  undiscovered,  there  was  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Gurab  a  king  called  Faruk  Padishah,  who 
had  three  sons,  Salmon,  Tur,  and  Iraj.  It  does  not 
appear  to  be  usual  among  the  Bakhtiaris  for  sons  to  "  get 
on "  together  after  their  father's  death,  and  the  three 
youths  quarrelled  and  built  these  three  impregnable 
forts — Killa  Tur,  the  one  I  examined,  Killa  Iraj,  and 
Killa  Salmon. 

The  beautiful  valley  was  evidently  too  narrow  for 
their  ambition,  and  leaving  their  uncomfortable  fastnesses 
they  went  northwards,  and  founded  three  empires,  Sal- 
mon to  the  Golden  Horn,  where  he  founded  Stamboul, 
Tur  to  Turkistan,  and  Iraj  became  the  founder  of  the 
Iranian  Empire. 

Killa  Tur  is  a  stone  building  mostly  below  the  surface 
of  the  hill-top,  of  rough  hewn  stone  cemented  with  lime 
rnortar  of  the  hardness  of  concrete.  The  inner  space  of 
the  fort  is  not  more  than  eighty  square  yards.  The  walls 
are  from  three  to  six  feet  thick. 

Chiyakhor,  May  31. — The  last  twelve  days  have  been 
spent  in  marching  through  a  country  which  has  not  been 
traversed  by  Europeans,  only  crossed  along  the  main 
track.  On  leaving  the  pleasant  camp  of  Tur  we  de- 
scended to  the  Gurab  plain,  purple  in  patches  with  a 
showy  species  of  garlic,  skirted  the  base  of  the  Tur  spur, 
and  rode  for  some  miles  along  the  left  bank  of  the 
Dinarud,  which,  after  watering  the  plain  of  Gurab, 


LETTER  xv  A  COOL  REQUEST  349 

sparkles  and  rushes  down  a  grassy  valley  bright  with 
roses  and  lilies,  and  well  wooded  with  oak,  elm,  and  haw- 
thorn. This  river,  gaining  continually  in  volume,  makes 
a  turbulent  descent  to  the  Karun  a  few  miles  from  the 
point  where  we  left  it.  This  was  the  finest  day's  march 
of  the  journey.  The  mountain  forms  were  grander  and 
more  definite,  the  vegetation  richer,  the  scenery  more 
varied,  and  a  kindlier  atmosphere  pervaded  it.  In  the 
midst  of  a  wood  of  fine  walnut  trees,  ash,  and  hawthorn, 
laced  together  by  the  tendrils  of  vines,  a  copious  stream 
tumbles  over  rocks  fringed  with  maiden-hair,  and  sparkles 
through  grass  purple  with  orchises.  This  is  the  only 
time  that  I  have  seen  the  one  or  the  other  in  Persia,  and 
it  was  like  an  unexpected  meeting  with  dear  friends. 

Crossing  the  Dinarud  on  a  twig  bridge,  fording  a  tur- 
bulent affluent,  which  bursts  full  fledged  from  the  mountain 
side,  and  ascending  for  some  hours  through  grassy  glades 
wooded  with  oak  and  elm,  we  camped  for  two  days  on  the 
alpine  meadow  of  Arjul,  scantily  watered  but  now  very 
green.  Oak  woods  come'  down  upon  it,  the  vines  are  magni- 
ficent, and  there  is  some  cultivation  of  wheat,  which  is  sown 
by  the  nomads  before  their  departure  in  the  late  autumn, 
and  is  reaped  during  their  summer  sojourn.  There  are 
no  tents  there  at  present,  yet  from  camps  near  and  far, 
on  horseback  and  on  foot,  people  came  for  eye-lotions,  and 
remained  at  night  to  have  them  dropped  into  their  eyes. 

The  next  morning  I  was  awakened  at  dawn  by  Mirza's 
voice  calling  to  me,  "  Madam,  Hadji  wants  you  to  come 
down  and  sew  up  a  mule  that's  been  gored  by  a  wild 
boar."  Awfully  gored  it  was.  A  piece  of  skin  about 
ten  inches  square  was  hanging  down  between  its  fore- 
legs, and  a  broad  wound  the  depth  of  my  hand  and  fully  a 
foot  long  extended  right  into  its  chest,  with  a  great  piece 
taken  out  I  did  what  I  could,  but  the  animal  had  to 
be  left  behind  to  be  cured  by  the  Mollah-i-Martaza,  who 


350  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTEB  xv 

left  us  there.  Another  misfortune  to  Hadji  was  the  loss 
of  the  fiery  leader  of  the  caravan,  Cock  o'  the  Walk,  but 
late  at  night  he  was  brought  into  camp  at  Dupulan  quite 
crestfallen,  having  gone  back  to  the  rich  pastures  which 
surround  the  Chesmeh-i-Gurab.  The  muleteer  who  went 
in  search  of  him  was  attacked  by  some  Lurs  and  stripped 
of  his  clothing,  but  on  some  men  coming  up  who  said 
his  master  was  under  the  protection  of  the  Ilkhani,  his 
clothes  and  horse  were  returned  to  him. 

The  parallel  ranges  with  deep  valleys  between  them, 
which  are  such  a  feature  of  this  country,  are  seen  in  per- 
fection near  Arjul.  Some  of  the  torrents  of  this  moun- 
tain region  are  already  dry,  but  their  broad  stony  beds, 
full  of  monstrous  boulders,  arrest  the  fury  with  which  at 
times  they  seek  the  Karun.  One  of  these,  the  Imamzada, 
passes  through  the  most  precipitous  and  narrow  gorge 
which  it  is  possible  to  travel,  even  with  unloaded  mules. 
The  narrow  path  is  chiefly  rude  rock  ladders,  threading  a 
gorge  or  chasm  on  a  gigantic  scale,  with  a  compressed 
body  of  water  thundering  below,  concealed  mainly  by 
gnarled  and  contorted  trees,  which  find  root-hold  in  every 
rift.  Where  the  chasm  widens  for  a  space  before 
narrowing  to  a  throat  we  forded  it,  and  through  glades 
and  wooded  uplands  reached  Arjul,  descending  and 
crossing  the  torrent  by  the  same  ford  on  the  march  to 
Dupulan  the  next  day. 

Owing  to  the  loss  of  two  baggage  animals  and  the 
necessary  re-adjustment  of  the  loads,  I  was  late  in  start- 
ing from  Arjul,  and  the  heat  as  we  descended  to  the 
lower  levels  was  very  great,  the  atmosphere  being  misty 
as  well  as  sultry.  Passing  upwards,  through  glades 
wooded  with  oaks,  the  path  emerges  on  high  gravelly 
uplands  above  the  tremendous  gorge  of  the  Karun,  the 
manifold  windings  of  which  it  follows  at  a  great  height. 
From  the  first  sight  of  this  river  in  the  Ardal  valley  to 


THE  KARUN  AT  DCFULAN.       To  JOGC  p.  351,  tW.  /. 


LETTER  xv  THE  UPPER  KARUN  351 

its  emergence  at  Dupulan,  just  below  these  heights,  it 
lias  coine  down  with  abrupt  elbow-like  turns  and  singular 
sinuosities — a  full,  rapid,  powerful  glass-green  volume  of 
water,  through  a  ravine  or  gorge  or  chasm  from  1000  to 
2000  feet  in  depth,  now  narrowing,  now  widening,  but 
always  the  feature  of  the  landscape.  It  would  be  natural 
to  use  the  usual  phrase,  and  write  of  the  Karun  having 
"  carved  "  this  passage  for  itself,  but  I  am  more  and  more 
convinced  that  this  is  not  the  case,  but  that  its  waters 
found  their  way  into  channels  already  riven  by  some  of 
those  mighty  operations  of  nature  which  have  made  of 
this  country  a  region  of  walls  and  clefts. 

A  long,  very  steep  gravelly  descent  leads  from  these 
high  lands  down  to  the  Karun,  and  to  one  of  the  routes 
—little  used,  however — from  Isfahan  to  Shuster.  It  is 
reported  as  being  closed  by  snow  four  months  of  the  year. 
The  scenery  changed  its  aspect  here,  and  for  walls  and 
parapets  of  splintered  rock  there  are  rounded  gravelly 
hills  and  stretching  uplands. 

The  three  groups  of  most  wretched  mud  hovels  which 
form  the  village  of  Dupulan  ("  Two  Bridge  Place  ")  are 
on  an  eminence  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Karun,  which 
emerges  from  its  long  imprisonment  in  a  gorge  in  the 
mountains  by  a  narrow  passage  between  two  lofty  walls 
of  rock  so  smooth  and  regular  in  their  slope  and  so  per- 
fect a  gateway  as  to  suggest  art  rather  than  nature.  This 
river,  the  volume  of  which  is  rapidly  augmenting  on  its 
downward  course,  is  here  compressed  into  a  width  of 
about  twenty  yards. 

At  this  point  a  stone  bridge,  built  by  Hussein  Kuli 
Khan,  of  one  large  pointed  arch  with  a  smaller  one  for 
the  flood,  and  a  rough  roadway  corresponding  to  the  arch 
in  the  steepness  of  its  pitch,  spans  the  stream,  which 
passes  onwards  gently  and  smoothly,  its  waters  a  deep 
cool  green.  Below  Dupulan  the  Karun,  which  in  that 


352  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xv 

direction  has  been  explored  by  several  travellers,  turns  to 
the  south-west,  and  after  a  considerable  bend  enters  the 
levels  above  Shuster  by  a  north-westerly  course.  Near 
the  bridge  the  Karun  is  joined  by  the  Sabzu,  a  very 
vigorous  torrent  from  the  Ardal  plain,  which  is  crossed 
by  a  twig  bridge,  safer  than  it  looks. 

The  camps  were  pitched  in  apricot  orchards  in  the 
Sabzu  ravine,  near  some  daxjnus  trees,  which  are  now 
bearing  their  sweet  gray  and  yellow  blossoms,  which  will 
be  succeeded  by  auburn  tresses  of  a  woolly  but  very 
pleasant  fruit  Dupulan  has  an  altitude  of  only  4950 
feet,  and  in  its  course  from  the  Kuh-i-Rang  to  this  point 
the  Karun  has  descended  about  4000  feet  Though 
there  was  a  breeze,  and  both  ends  of  my  tent  and  the 
kanats  were  open,  the  mercury  was  at  86°  inside,  and  at 
5  A.M.  at  72°  outside  (on  May  21).  There  were  no  sup- 
plies, and  even  milk  was  unattainabla 

The  road  we  followed  ascends  the  Dupulan  Pass, 
which  it  crosses  at  a  height  of  6380  feet  The  path  is 
very  bad,  hardly  to  be  called  a  path.  The  valley  which 
it  ascends  is  packed  with  large  and  small  boulders,  with 
round  water- worn  stones  among  them,  and  such  track  as 
there  is  makes  sharp  zigzags  over  and  among  these  rocks. 
Screw  was  very  unwilling  to  face  the  difficulties,  which 
took  two  hours  to  surmount  The  ascent  was  hampered 
by  coming  upon  a  tribe  of  Ilyats  on  the  move,  who 
at  times  blocked  up  the  pass  with  their  innumerable 
sheep  and  goats  and  their  herds  of  cattle.  Once  en- 
tangled in  this  migration,  it  was  only  possible  to  move 
on  a  few  feet  at  a  time.  It  straggled  along  for  more  than 
a  mile, — loaded  cows  and  bullocks,  innumerable  sheep, 
goats,  lambs,  and  kids ;  big  dogs;  asses  loaded  with  black 
tents  and  short  tent-poles  on  the  loads ;  weakly  sheep  tied 
on  donkeys'  backs,  and  weakly  lambs  carried  in  shepherds' 
bosoms ;  handsome  mares,  each  with  her  foal,  running 


LETTER  xv  A  KHAN'S  ANDARUN  353 

loose  or  ridden  by  women  with  babies  seated  on  the  tops 
of  loaded  saddle-bags  made  of  gay  rugs ;  tribesmen  on  foot 
with  long  guns  slung  behind  their  shoulders,  and  big  two- 
edged  knives  in  their  girdles  ;  sheep  bleating,  dogs  barking, 
mares  neighing,  men  shouting  and  occasionally  tiring  off 
their  guns,  the  whole  ravine  choked  up  with  the  ascend- 
ing tribal  movement. 

Half-way  up  the  ascent  there  is  a  most  striking  view 
of  mountain  ranges  cleft  by  the  great  chasm  of  the  Karun. 
The  descent  is  into  the  eastern  part  of  the  Ardal  valley, 
over  arid  treeless  hillsides  partially  ploughed,  to  the 
village  of  Dehnau,  not  yet  deserted  for  the  summer. 
Fattiallah  Khan  expected  us,  and  rooms  were  prepared 
for  me  in  the  women's  house,  which  I  excused  myself 
from  occupying  by  saying  that  I  cannot  sleep  under  a 
roof.  I  managed  also  to  escape  partaking  of  a  huge 
garlicky  dinner  which  was  being  cooked  for  me. 

The  Khan's  house  or  fort,  built  like  all  else  of  mud, 
has  a  somewhat  imposing  gateway,  over  which  are  the 
men's  apartments.  The  roof  is  decorated  with  a  number  of 
ibex  horns.  Within  is  a  rude  courtyard  with  an  uneven 
surface,  on  which  servants  and  negro  slaves  were  skinning 
sheep,  winnowing  wheat,  clarifying  butter,  carding  wool, 
cooking,  and  making  cheese.  The  women's  apartments 
are  round  the  courtyard,  and  include  the  usual  feature 
of  these  houses,  an  atrium,  or  room  without  a  front,  and  a 
darkish  room  within.  The  floor  of  the  atrium  was  covered 
with  brown  felts,  and  there  was  a  mattress  for  me  to  sit 
upon.  The  ruling  spirit  of  the  haram  is  the  Khan's 
mother,  a  comely  matron  of  enormous  size,  who  occasionally 
slapped  her  son's  four  young  and  comely  wives  when  they 
were  too  "  forward."  She  wore  a  short  jacket,  balloon-like 
trousers  of  violet  silk,  and  a  black  coronet,  to  which  was 
attached  a  black  ckadar  which  completely  enveloped  her. 

The  wives  wore  figured  white  cJiadars,  print  trousers, 
VOL.  I  2  A 


354  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xv 

and  strings  of  coins.  Children  much  afflicted  with 
cutaneous  maladies  crawled  on  the  floor.  Heaps  of 
servants,  negro  slaves,  old  hags,  and  young  girls  crowded 
behind  and  around,  nil  talking  at  once  and  at  the  top  of 
their  voices,  and  at  the  open  front  the  village  people 
constantly  assembled,  to  be  driven  away  at  intervals 
by  a  man  with  a  stick.  A  bowl  of  cow's  milk  and 
some  barley  bread  were  given  to  me,  and  though  a 
remarkably  dirty  negress  kept  the  flies  away  by  flapping 
the  milk  bowl  with  a  dirty  sleeve,  I  was  very  grateful 
for  the  meal,  for  I  was  really  suffering  from  the  heat  and 
fatigue. 

A  visit  to  a  Jiarain  is  not  productive  of  mutual 
elevation.  The  women  seem  exceedingly  frivolous,  and 
are  almost  exclusively  interested  in  the  adornment  of 
their  persons,  the  dress  and  ailments  of  their  children, 
and  in  the  frightful  jealousies  and  intrigues  inseparable 
from  the  system  of  polygamy,  and  which  are  fostered  by 
the  servants  and  discarded  wives.  The  servile  deference 
paid  by  the  other  women  to  the  reigning  favourite  before 
her  face,  and  the  merciless  persistency  of  the  attempts 
made  behind  her  back  to  oust  her  from  her  position, 
and  the  requests  made  on  the  one  hand  for  charms  or 
potions  to  win  or  bring  back  the  love  of  a  husband,  and 
on  the  other  for  something  which  shall  make  the  favour- 
ite hateful  to  him,  are  evidences  of  the  misery  of  heart 
which  underlies  the  outward  frivolity. 

The  tone  of  Fattiallah  Khan's  haram  was  not  higher 
than  usual.  The  ladies  took  off  my  hat,  untwisted  my 
hair,  felt  my  hands,  and  shrieked  when  they  found  that 
my  gloves  came  off;  laughed  immoderately  at  my  Bakh- 
tiari  shoes,  which,  it  seems,  are  only  worn  by  men ;  put 
their  rings  on  my  fingers,  put  my  hat  on  their  own 
heads,  asked  if  I  could  give  them  better  hair  dyes  than 
their  own,  and  cosmetics  to  make  their  skins  fair ;  paid 


LETTER  xv  MARRIAGE  CUSTOMS  355 

the  usual  compliments,  told  me  to  regard  everything  as 
pishkash,  asked  for  medicines  and  charms,  and  regretted 
that  I  would  not  sleep  in  their  house,  because,  as  they 
said,  they  "never  went  anywhere  or  saw  anything." 

They  have  no  occupation,  except  occasionally  a  little 
embroidery.  They  amuse  themselves,  they  said,  by 
watching  the  servants  at  work,  and  by  having  girls  to 
dance  before  them.  They  find  the  winter,  though  spent 
in  a  warm  climate,  very  long  and  wearisome,  and  after 
dark  employ  female  professional  story-tellers  to  enter- 
tain them  with  love  stories.  At  night  the  elder  lady 
sent  three  times  for  a  charm  which  should  give  her 
daughter  the  love  of  her  husband.  She  is  married  to 
another  Khan,  and  I  recalled  her  as  the  forlorn-looking 
girl  without  any  jewels  who  excited  my  sympathies  in 
his  house. 

Marriages  are  early  among  these  people.  They  are 
arranged  by  the  parents  of  both  bride  and  bridegroom. 
The  betrothal  feast  is  a  great  formality.  The  "settle- 
ments "  having  been  made  by  the  bridegroom's  father 
and  mother,  they  distribute  sweetmeats  among  the 
members  of  the  bride's  family,  and  some  respectable 
men  who  are  present  tie  a  handkerchief  round  the  head 
of  the  bride,  and  kiss  the  hands  of  her  parents  as  a  sign 
of  the  betrothal.  The  engagement  must  be  fulfilled  by 
the  bride's  parents  under  pain  of  severe  penalties,  from 
which  the  bridegroom's  parents  are  usually  exempt. 
But,  should  he  prove  faithless,  he  is  a  marked  man. 
It  appears  that  "  breach  of  promise  of  marriage  "  is  very 
rare.  The  betrothal  may  take  place  at  the  tenderest  age, 
but  the  marriage  is  usually  delayed  till  the  bride  is 
twelve  years  old,  or  even  older,  and  the  bridegroom  is 
from  fifteen  to  eighteen. 

The  "  settlements  "  made  at  the  betrothal  are  paid  at 
the  time  of  marriage,  and  consist  of  a  sum  of  money  or 


356  .101  IX   PERSIA  LETTER  xv 

rattlr,  mures,  or  sheep,  according  to  the  circumstances 
"f  the  bridegroom's  parents.  It  is  essential  among  all 
classes  that  a  number  of  costumes  be  presented  to  the 
bride.  Alter  the  marriage  is  over  her  parents  bestow  a 
suit  of  clothes  on  her  husband,  but  these  are  usually  of 
an  inferior,  or,  as  my  interpreter  calls  them,  of  a  "  trivial  " 
description. 

A  I'.aklitiari  marriage  is  a  very  noisy  performance. 
For  three  days  or  more,  in  fact  as  long  as  the  festivities 
can  be  afforded,  the  relations  and  friends  of  both  parties 
are  assembled  at  the  tents  of  the  bride's  parents,  feasting 
and  dancing  (men  and  women  on  this  occasion  dancing 
together),  performing  feats  of  horsemanship,  and  shooting 
at  a  mark.  The  noise  at  this  time  is  ceaseless.  Drums, 
tom-toms,  reeds,  whistles,  and  a  sort  of  bagpipe  are  all 
in  requisition,  and  songs  of  love  and  war  are  chanted. 
At  this  time  also  is  danced  the  national  dance,  the 
chapi,  of  which  on  no  other  occasion  (except  a  burial) 
can  a  stranger  procure  a  sight  for  love  or  money.  It  is 
said  to  resemble  the  arnaoutika  of  the  modern  Greeks ; 
any  number  of  men  can  join  in  it  The  dancers  form 
in  a  close  row,  holding  each  other  by  their  kamarbands, 
and  swinging  along  sidewise.  They  mark  the  time  by 
alternately  stamping  the  heel  of  the  right  and  left  foot. 
The  dancers  are  led  by  a  man  who  dances  apart,  waving 
a  handkerchief  rhythmically  above  his  head,  and  either 
singing  a  war  song  or  playing  on  a  reed  pipe.  After 
the  marriage  feast  the  bride  follows  her  husband  to  his 
father's  tent,  where  she  becomes  subject  to  her  mother- 
in-law. 

The  messenger,  after  looking  round  to  see  that  there 
were  no  bystanders,  very  mysteriously  produced  from  his 
girdle  a  black,  flattish  oval  stone  of  very  close  texture, 
weighing  about  a  pound,  almost  polished  by  long  hand- 
ling. He  told  me  that  it  was  believed  that  this  stone,  if 


I.ITTKR  xv  BAKHTIARI  CONCEIT  357 

kept  in  one  family  for  fifty  years  and  steadily  worn  by 
father  and  son,  would  then  not  only  turn  to  gold,  but 
have  the  power  of  transmuting  any  metal  laid  beside  it 
for  five  years,  and  he  wanted  to  know  what  the  wisdom 
of  the  Feringhis  knew  about  it. 

I  went  up  to  my  camp  above  the  village  and  tried  to 
rest  there,  but  the  buzz  of  a  crowd  outside  and  the  cease- 
less lifting  of  curtains  and  kanats  made  this  quite  im- 
possible. When  I  opened  the  tent  I  found  the  crowd 
seated  in  a  semicircle  five  rows  deep,  waiting  for  medicines, 
chiefly  eye-lotion,  quinine,  and  cough  mixtures.  These 
daily  assemblages  of  "  patients  "  are  most  fatiguing.  The 
satisfaction  is  that  some  "  lame  dogs "  are  "  helped  over 
stiles,"  and  that  some  prejudice  against  Christians  is 
removed. 

After  this  Fattiallah  Khan,  with  a  number  of  retainers, 
paid  a  formal  visit  to  the  Agha,  who  kindly  sent  for  me, 
as  I  do  not  receive  any  but  lady  visitors  in  my  tent. 
The  Khan  is  a  very  good-looking  and  well-dressed  man 
of  twenty-eight,  very  amusing,  and  ready  to  be  amused. 
He  was  very  anxious  to  be  doctored,  but  looked  the 
opposite  of  a  sick  man.  He  and  Isfandyar  Khan  were 
in  arms  against  the  Ilkhani  two  years  ago,  and  a  few 
men  were  shot.  He  looked  as  if  he  were  very  sorry  not 
to  have  killed  him. 

The  Bakhtiaris  have  an  enormous  conceit  of  them- 
selves and  their  country.  It  comes  out  in  all  ways  and 
on  all  occasions,  and  their  war  stories  and  songs  abound 
in  legends  of  singular  prowess,  one  Bakhtiari  killing 
twenty  Persians,  and  the  like.  They  represent  the  power 
of  the  Shah  over  them  as  merely  nominal,  a  convenient 
fiction  for  the  time  being,  although  it  is  apparent  that 
Persia,  which  for  years  has  been  aiming  at  the  extinction 
of  the  authority  of  the  principal  chiefs,  has  had  at  least 
a  partial  success. 


856  JOURNEYS  IX  PERSIA  LETTER  xv 

*"*? At  such  interviews  a  private  conversation  is  impossible. 
The  manners  are  those  of  a  feudal  rtyimc.  Heaps  of 
retainers  crowd  round,  and  even  join  in  the  conversation. 
A  servant  brought  the  Khan  a  handsome  kalian  to 
snmkr  three  times.  He  also  took  tea.  A  great  quan- 
tity of  opium  for  exportation  is  grown  about  Dehnau, 
and  the  Khan  said  that  the  cultivation  of  it  is  always 
increasing. 

From  Dehnau  the  path  I  took  leads  over  gravelly 
treeless  hills,  through  many  treeless  gulches,  to  the  top  of 
a  great  gorge,  through  which  the  Sabzu  passes  as  an 
impetuous  torrent.  The  descent  to  a  very  primitive 
bridge  is  long  and  difficult,  a  succession  of  rocky  zigzags. 
Picturesqueness  is  not  a  usual  attribute  of  mud  villages, 
but  the  view  from  every  point  of  Chiraz,  the  village  on 
the  lofty  cliffs  on  the  other  side  of  the  stream,  is  strikingly 
so.  They  are  irregularly  covered  with  houses,  partly  built 
on  them  and  partly  excavated  out  of  them,  and  behind 
is  a  cool  mass  of  greenery,  apricot  orchards,  magnificent 
walnut  and  mulberry  trees,  great  standard  hawthorns 
loaded  with  masses  of  blossom,  wheat  coming  into  ear, 
and  clumps  and  banks  of  canary-yellow  roses  measuring 
three  inches  across  their  petals.  Groups  of  women,  in 
whose  attire  Turkey  red  predominated,  were  on  the  house 
roofs.  Wild  flowers  abounded,  and  the  sides  of  the 
craggy  path  by  which  I  descended  were  crowded  with 
leguminous  and  umbelliferous  plants,  with  the  white  and 
pink  dianthus,  and  with  the  thorny  tussocks  of  the  gum 
tragacanth,  largely  used  for  kindling,  now  in  full  bloom. 

As  I  dragged  my  unwilling  horse  down  the  steep 
descent,  his  bridle  was  taken  out  of  my  hands,  and  I  was 
welcomed  by  the  brother  of  Fattiallah  Khan,  who,  with 
a  number  of  village  men  escorted  rne  over  the  twig  bridge, 
and  up  to  an  exquisite  halting-place  under  a  large  mul- 
berry tree,  where  the  next  two  hours  were  spent  in 


LETTER  xv  CAREFUL  IRRIGATION  359 

receiving  visitors.  It  is  evident  that  these  fine  orchards 
must  have  been  the  pleasure-ground  of  some  powerful 
ruler,  and  the  immense  yellow  roses  are  such  as  grow  in 
one  or  two  places  in  Kashmir,  where  they  are  attributed 
to  Jehangir. 

The  track  from  Chiraz  for  many  miles  follows  up 
the  right  bank  of  the  Sabzu  at  a  great  height,  descends 
occasionally  into  deep  gulches,  crosses  the  spurs  of 
mountains  whose  rifts  give  root-hold  to  contorted  "  pencil 
cedars,"  and  winds  among  small  ash  trees  and  hawthorns, 
or  among  rich  grass  and  young  wheat,  which  is  grown  to 
a  considerable  extent  on  the  irrigated  slopes  above  the 
river.  It  is  a  great  surprise  to  find  so  much  land  under 
cultivation,  and  so  much  labour  spent  on  irrigation 
channels.  Some  of  these  canals  are  several  miles 
in  length,  and  the  water  always  runs  in  them  swiftly, 
and  the  right  way,  although  the  "  savages  "  who  make 
them  have  no  levels  or  any  tools  but  spades. 

Mountains,  much  scored  and  canoned  by  streams, 
very  grand  in  form,  and  with  much  snow  still  upon 
them,  rise  to  a  great  height  above  the  ranges  which  form 
the  Sabzu  valley.  From  Chaharta,  an  uninteresting 
camping-ground  by  the  river,  I  proceeded  by  an  elevated 
and  rather  illegible  track  in  a  easterly  direction  to  the 
meeting  of  two  streams,  forded  the  Sabzu,  and  camped 
for  two  days  on  the  green  slope  of  Sabz  Kuh,  at  a 
height  of  8100  feet,  close  to  a  vigorous  spring  whose 
waters  form  many  streamlets,  fringed  by  an  abundance 
of  pink  primulas,  purple  and  white  orchises,  white  tulips, 
and  small  fragrant  blue  irises. 

Lahdaraz  is  in  the  very  heart  of  mountain  ranges,  and 
as  the  Ilyats  have  not  yet  come  up  so  high,  there  were 
no  crowds  round  my  tent  for  medicine,  but  one  sick 
woman  was  carried  thither  eleven  miles  on  the  back  of 
her  husband,  who  seemed  tenderly  solicitous  about  her. 


360  JOt'l:Nn>    IN    I'KIJSIA 

On  Monday  I  spent  most  of  the  day  1000  feet 
higher,  in  most  magnificent  scenery  on  an  imposing 
scale  of  grandeur.  The  guide  took  us  from  the  camp 
through  herbage,  snow,  and  alpine  flowers,  up  a  vall«  v 
with  fine  mountains  on  either  side,  terminating  on  the 
brink  of  a  gigantic  precipice,  a  cloven  ledge  between 
the  Kuh-i-Kaller  and  a  stupendous  cliff  or  head- 
land, Sultan  Ibrahim,  over  12,000  feet,  which  de- 
scends in  shelving  masses  to  an  abyss  of  tremendous 
depth,  where  water  thunders  in  a  narrow  rift.  The 
Sabz  Kuh,  or  "  green  mountain "  range,  famous  for  the 
pasturage  of  its  higher  slopes,  terminates  in  Sultan 
Ibrahim,  and  unites  at  its  eastern  end  with  the  Kuh- 
i-Kaller,  a  range  somewhat  higher.  On  the  east  side 
of  this  huge  chasm  rises  another  range  of  peaks,  with 
green  shelves,  dark  rifts,  and  red  precipices,  behind 
which  rise  another,  and  yet  another,  whose  blue,  snow- 
patched  summits  blended  with  the  pure  cool  blue  of  the 
sky.  In  the  far  distance,  in  a  blue  veil,  lies  the  green- 
tinted  plain  of  Khana  Mirza,  set  as  an  emerald  in  this 
savage  scenery,  with  two  ranges  beyond,  and  above  them 
the  great  mountain  mass  of  the  Eiji,  whose  snowy  peaks 
were  painted  faintly  on  a  faint  blue  heaven. 

That  misty  valley,  irrigated  and  cultivated,  with  100 
villages  of  the  Janiki  tribe  upon  it,  is  the  only  fair 
spot  in  the  savage  landscape.  Elsewhere  only  a  few 
wild  flowers  and  a  gnarled  juniper  here  and  there  relieve 
the  fierce,  blazing  verdurelessness  of  these  stupendous 
precipices.  Never,  not  even  among  the  Himalayas,  have 
I  seen  anything  so  superlatively  grand,  though  I  have 
always  imagined  that  such  scenes  must  exist  somewhere 
on  the  earth.  A  pair  of  wild  sheep  on  a  ledge,  a  serpent 
or  two,  and  an  eagle  soaring  sunwards  represented  animate 
nature,  otherwise  the  tremendous  heights  above,  the 
awful  depths  below,  the  snowy  mountains,  and  the  valley 


LETTER  xv  NOON-DAY  HEAT  361 

with  its  smile,  were  given  over  to  solitude  and  silence, 
except  for  the  dull  roar  of  the  torrent  hurrying  down 
to  vivify  the  Khana  Mirza  plain. 

After  leaving  Lahdaraz  the  path  followed  the  course  of 
the  Sabzu  through  grass  and  barley  for  a  few  miles.  Then 
there  is  an  abrupt  and  disagreeable  change  to  yellow 
mud  slopes  and  hkrh  mud  mountains  deeply  fissured, 
the  scanty  herbage  already  eaten  down  by  Ilyat  flocks — 
a  desolate  land,  without  springs,  streams,  or  even  Ilyat 
tents.  Then  comes  a  precipice  at  an  altitude  of  7500 
feet,  through  a  cleft  in  which,  the  Tang-i-Wastagun,  the 
road  passes,  and  descends  to  the  plain  of  Gandaman  as 
something  little  "better  than  a  sheep  track  on  a  steep  hill- 
side above  a  stream.  The  heat  was  fierce.  A  pair  of 
stout  gardening  gloves  does  not  preserve  the  hands  from 
blistering.  Spectacles  with  wire  gauze  sides  have  to  be 
abandoned  as  they  threaten  to  roast  the  eyes.  In  this 
latitude,  32°,  the  heat  of  the  sun  at  noon  is  tremendous. 
At  the  precipice  top  I  crept  into  a  hole  at  the  base  of  a 
rock,  for  "  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land," 
till  the  caravan  staggered  up.  It  was  difficult  to  brave 
the  sun's  direct  rays.  He  looked  like  a  ball  of  magnesium 
light,  white  and  scintillating,  in  the  unclouded  sky. 

On  crossing  the  Tang-i -Wastagun  we  left  behind 
the  Bakhtiari  country  proper  for  a  time,  and  re-entered 
the  Chahar  Mahals,  with  their  mixed  village  population 
of  Persians  and  Armenians.  The  descent  from  the 
Tang-i- Wastagun  is  upon  a  ruined  Armenian  village  with  a 
large  graveyard.  The  tombstones  are  of  great  size,  ten  feet 
long  by  three  feet  broad  and  three  feet  high,  sarcophagus- 
shaped,  and  on  each  stone  are  an  Armenian  epitaph  and  a 
finely-engraved  cross.  The  plain  of  Gandaman  or  Wastagun 
is  a  very  large  one,  over  7000  feet  in  altitude,  and  is  sur- 
rounded mainly  by  high  mountains  still  snow -patched, 
but  to  the  north  by  low  rocky  hills.  Much  of  it  is 


IN    I'KI.'SIA 


]  i  i  i  i  i:   \v 


irrigated  and  under  cultivation,  and  grows  heavy  croj> 
wheat  and  barley.     The  pasturage  is  fine  and  abundant, 
and  the  people  breed  cattle  and  horses.     The  uncultivated 
slopes  are  now  covered  with  red   tulips  and  a  purple 

<  i  Ilium,  and  even  the 
dry  gravel  added  largely 
to  the  daily  increasing 
botanical  collection. 

The  camps  were 
pitched  on  green  turf 
near  three  springs,  a 
quiet  place,  but  there 
was  little  rest.  \\ 't- 
were hardly  settled 
before  there  was  a 
severe  fight  among  the 
horses,  my  sour -tem- 
pered Screw  being  the 
aggressor.  This  was 
hardly  quieted  when 
there  was  a  sharp 
"scrimmage"  between 
the  charvadars  and  the 
Agha's  three  young 
savages,  in  which  one 
of  them,  Ali  Jan,  was 
badly  beaten,  and  came 
to  me  to  have  a  bleed- 
ing face  and  head 
dressed.  After  that  the 
people  began  to  come 

ALI   JAN. 

in     from    the    villages 

for  eye-washes  and  medicines.  They  have  no  bottles,  nor 
have  I,  and  the  better-off  bring  great  copper  jugs  and 
basins  for  an  ounce  or  two  of  lotion !  A  very  poor  old 


LETTER  xv         A  NOVEL  MEDICINE  BOTTLE  363 

woman  much  afflicted  with  ophthalmia  said  she  had 
three  sisters  all  blind,  that  she  had  nothing  for  lotion, 
nothing  in  the  world  but  a  copper  cooking  pot,  and  she 
cried  piteously.  I  had  nothing  to  give  her,  and  eventually 
she  returned  with  an  egg-shell,  with  the  top  neatly 
chipped  off.  It  is  the  custom  to  raise  the  hands  to 
heaven  and  invoke  blessings  on  the  Hakim's  head,  but  I 
never  received  so  mauy  as  from  this  poor  creature. 

The  ride  to  the  village  of  Gandaman,  where  we  halted 
for  two  days,  was  an  agreeable  one.  After  being  shut  up 
among  mountains  and  precipices,  space  and  level  ground 
to  Lrallop  over  are  an  agreeable  change,  and  in  the  early 
morning  the  heat  was  not  excessive.  The  great  plain 
was  a  truly  pastoral  scene.  Wild-looking  shepherds  with 
long  guns  led  great  brown  flocks  to  the  hills ;  innumerable 
yokes  of  black  oxen,  ploughing  with  the  usual  iron-shod, 
pointed  wooden  share,  turned  over  the  rich  black  soil, 
making  straight  furrows,  and  crossing  them  diagonally; 
mares  in  herds  fed  with  their  foals;  and  shepherds 
busily  separated  the  sheep  from  the  goats. 

Close  to  the  filthy  walled  Armenian  village  of  Kunak 
there  is  a  conical  hill  with  a  large  fort,  in  ruinous 
condition,  upon  it,  and  not  far  off  are  the  remains  of  an 
Armenian  village,  enclosed  by  a  square  wall  with  a  round 
tower  at  each  corner.  This  must  have  been  until 
recently  a  place  of  some  local  importance,  as  it  is 
approached  by  a  paved  causeway,  and  had  an  aqueduct, 
now  ruinous,  carried  over  the  river  on  three  arches.  Not 
only  the  plain  but  the  hill-slopes  up  to  a  great  height 
are  cultivated,  and  though  the  latter  have  the  pre- 
cariousness  of  rain-lands,  the  crops  already  in  ear  promise 
well. 

Crossing  a  spur  which  descends  upon  the  north  side 
of  the  plain,  we  reached  Gandaman,  a  good-looking 
walled  Moslem  village  of  196  houses,  much  planted, 


364  JOURNEYS  IN  ITJ:sl.\  LETTER  xv 

( liit-ily  with  willows,  and  rejoicing  in  eight  springs,  close 
together,  the  overflow  of  which  makes  quite  a  piece  of 
water.  It  has  an  imamzada  on  an  eminence  and  is 
fairly  prosperous,  for  besides  pastoral  wealth  it  weaves 
an- 1  exports  carpets,  and  dyes  cotton  and  woollen  yam 
witli  madder  and  other  vegetable  dyes.  The  mountain 
view  to  the  south-west  is  very  fine. 

I  was  in  my  tent  early,  but  there  was  little  rest,  for 
crowds  of  people  with  bad  eyes  and  woful  maladies 
besieged  it  until  the  evening.  At  noon  a  gay  pro- 
cession crossed  the  green  camping-ground,  four  mares 
caparisoned  in  red  trai»i»in.urs,  each  carrying  two  women 
in  Bright  dresses,  but  shrouded  in  pure  white  sheets  bound 
round  their  heads  with  silver  chains.  The  ketchuda  of 
the  Armenian  village  of  Libasgun,  two  miles  off,  accom- 
panied them,  and  said  that  they  came  to  invite  me  to  their 
village,  for  they  are  Christians.  Then  they  all  made  the 
sign  of  the  Cross,  which  is  welcome  in  this  land  as  a  bond 
of  brotherhood. 

Cleanly,  comely,  large  -  eyed,  bright  -  cheeked,  and 
wholesome  they  looked,  in  their  pure  white  chadars,  gay 
red  dresses,  and  embroidered  under -vests.  They  had 
massive  silver  girdles,  weighing  several  pounds,  worn 
there  only  by  married  women,  red  coronets,  heavy  tiaras  of 
silver,  huge  necklaces  of  coins,  and  large  filigree  silver 
drops  attached  down  the  edges  of  their  too  open  vests. 
Their  heavy  hair  was  plaited,  but  not  fastened  up.  Each 
wore  a  stiff  dianioud-shaped  piece  of  white  cotton  over 
her  mouth  and  the  tip  of  her  nose.  They  said  it  was 
their  custom  to  wear  it,  and  they  would  not  remove  it 
even  to  eat  English  biscuits  !  They  managed  to  drink  tea 
by  veiling  their  faces  with  their  chadars  and  passing  the 
cup  underneath,  but  they  turned  their  faces  quite  away 
as  they  did  it.  They  had  come  for  the  day,  and  had 
brought  large  hanks  of  wool  to  wind,  but  the  headman 


LETTER  xv  TILLAGE  MATRONS 

had  the  tact  to  take  them  away  after  arranging  for  me  to 
return  the  visit  in  the  evening, 

He  seemed  an  intelligent  man.  Libasgun,  with  its  120 
houses,  is,  according  to  his  account,  a  prosperous  village, 
paying  its  tax  of  300  tumaiis  (£100)  a  year  to  the  Aniin- 
ud-Daulat,  and  making  a  present  only  to  the  Ilkhani.  It 
has  2000  sheep  and  goats,  besides  mares  and  cattle.  It 
has  an  oil  mill,  and  exports  oil  to  Isfahan.  The  women 
weave  carpets,  and  embroider  beautifully  on  coarse  cotton 
woven  by  themselves,  and  dyed  indigo  blue  and  madder 
red  by  their  Gandaman  neighbours.  This  man  is  proud 
of  being  a  Christian.  Among  the  Armenians  Christianity 
is  as  much  a  national  characteristic  as  pride  of  race  and 
strict  monogamy.  He  remarked  that  there  are  no  sore 
eyes  in  Libasguu,  and  attributed  it  to  the  greater  cleanli- 
ness of  the  people  and  to  the  cross  signed  in  holy  oil 
upon  their  brows  in  baptism ! 

I  rode  to  this  village  in  the  late  afternoon,  and  was 
received  with  much  distinction  in  the  balakhana  of  the 
/.-f<huda's  house,  where  I  was  handed  to  the  seat  of 
honour,  a  bolster  at  the  head  of  the  handsomely-carpeted 
room.  It  soon  filled  with  buxom  women  in  red,  with 
jackets  displaying  their  figures,  or  want  of  figures,  down 
to  their  waists.  From  the  red  velvet  coronets  on  their 
heads  hung  two  graduated  rows  of  silver  coins,  and  their 
muslin  chadars  were  attached  to  their  hair  with  large 
silver  pins  and  chains.  Magnificent  necklaces  of  gold  coins 
were  also  worn. 

Forty  women  sat  on  the  floor  in  rows  against  the 
wall.  Each  had  rosy  cheeks,  big  black  eyes,  and  a 
diamond-shaped  white  cloth  over  her  mouth.  The  uni- 
formity was  shocking.  They  stared,  not  at  me,  but  at 
nothing.  They  looked  listless  and  soulless,  only  fit  to 
be  what  they  are  —  the  servants  of  their  husbands. 
When  they  had  asked  me  my  age,  and  why  I  do  not  dye 


860 


JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA 


LETTER  XV 


my  hair,  the  conversation  flagged,  for  I  could  not  get  any 
information  from  them  even  on  the  simplest  topics. 
Hotter  and  hotter  grew  the  room,  more  stolid  the  vacancy 
of  the  eyes,  more  grotesque  the  rows  of  white  diamonds 
over  the  mouths,  when  the  happy  thought  occurred  to 


ARMENIAN    WOMEN   OF   LIBASGfS. 

me  to  ask  to  see  the  embroidered  aprons,  which  every 
girl  receives  from  her  mother  on  her  marriage.  Two 
mountains  of  flesh  obligingly  rolled  out  of  the  room,  and 
rolled  in  again  bringing  some  beautiful  specimens  of 
needlework.  This  is  really  what  is  known  as  "  Eussian 
embroidery,"  cross  stitch  in  artistic  colours  on  coarse  red 
or  blue  cotton.  The  stomachers  are  most  beautifully 


1 1 :m:R  xv  AN  ARMENIAN  BANQUET  367 

worked.  The  aprons  cover  the  whole  of  the  front  and 
the  sides  of  the  dress.  The  mothers  begin  to  embroider 
them  when  their  daughters  are  ten.  The  diamond-shaped 
cloth  is  put  on  by  girls  at  eight  or  nine.  The  women 
would  not  remove  it  for  a  moment  even  to  oblige  a  guest. 
The  perpetual  wearing  of  it  is  one  of  their  religious 
customs,  only  prevailing,  however,  in  some  localities. 
They  say  that  when  our  Lord  was  born  His  mother  in 
token  of  reverence  took  a  cloth  and  covered  her  mouth, 
hence  their  habit. 

When  the  kctchuda  arrived  he  found  the  heat  of  the 
room  unbearable  and  proposed  an  adjournment  to  the 
lower  roof,  which  was  speedily  swept,  watered,  and 
carpeted. 

An  elaborate  banquet  had  been  prepared  in  the  hope 
that  the  Agha  would  pay  them  a  visit,  and  they  were 
much  mortified  at  his  non-appearance.  The  great  copper 
basins  containing  the  food  were  heaped  together  in  the 
middle  of  the  carpets,  and  the  guests,  fifty  in  number,  sat 
down,  the  men  on  one  side,  and  the  women  on  the  other, 
the  wives  of  the  ketchuda  and  his  brothers  serving. 
There  were  several  samovars  with  tea,  but  only  three 
cups.  A  long  bolster  was  the  place  of  honour,  and  I 
occupied  it  alone  till  the  village  priests  arrived, — reverend 
men  with  long  beards,  high  black  head-dresses,  and  full 
black  cassocks  with  flowing  sleeves.  All  the  guests  rose, 
and  remained  standing  till  they  had  been  ceremoniously 
conducted  to  seats.  I  found  them  very  agreeable  and 
cultured  men,  acquainted  with  the  varying  "  streams  of 
tendency  "  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  very  anxious  to 
claim  our  Church  as  a  sister  of  their  own.  This  banquet 
was  rather  a  gay  scene,  and  on  a  higher  roof  fully  one 
hundred  women  and  children  dressed  in  bright  red  stood 
watching  the  proceedings  below. 

I  proposed  to  see  the  church,  and  with  the  priests, 


Mfl  JOrilNKYS   IN    1'KKSIA  I.KTTKH  \v 

most  of  tin-  quests,  and  a  considerable  following  of  the 
onlookers,  walked  to  it  through  filthy  alleys.  This 
ancient  Imildini:,  in  a  dirty  and  malodorous  yard,  differs 
externally  from  tin-  mud  houses  which  surround  it  only 
in  having  two  bells  on  a  beam.  The  interior  consists 
of  four  domed  vaults,  and  requires  artificial  light.  A 
vault  with  a  raised  floor  contains  the  altar  and  a  badly- 
painted  altar-piece  representing  the  B.  V. ;  a  rail  separates 
the  men,  who  stand  in  front,  from  the  women,  who  stand 
behind.  A  Liturgy  and  an  illuminated  medieval  copy 
of  the  Gospels,  of  which  they  are  very  proud,  are  their 
only  treasures.  They  have  no  needlework,  and  the  altar 
cloth  is  only  a  piece  of  printed  cotton.  Nothing  could 
wi-11  look  poorer  than  this  small,  dark,  vacant  building, 
with  a  few  tallow  candles  without  candlesticks  giving  a 
smoky  light. 

They  have  two  daily  services  lasting  from  one  to  two 
hours  each,  and  Mass  on  Sunday  is  protracted  to  seven 
hours !  The  priests  said  that  all  the  men,  except  two 
who  watch  the  flocks,  and  nearly  all  the  women  are  at 
both  services  011  Sunday,  and  that  many  of  the  men  and 
most  of  the  women  are  at  both  daily  services,  one  of 
which,  as  is  usual,  begins  before  daylight.  There  is  no 
school.  The  fathers  teach  their  boys  to  read  and  write, 
and  the  mothers  instruct  their  girls  in  needlework. 

After  visits  to  the  priests'  houses,  a  number  of 
villagers  on  horseback  escorted  me  back  to  Gandaman. 
The  heat  of  those  two  days  was  very  great  for  May,  the 
mercury  marking  83°  in  the  shade  at  10  A.M.  One 
hundred  and  thirteen  people  came  for  medicines,  and  in 
their  eagerness  they  swarmed  round  both  ends  of  the 
tent,  blocking  out  all  air.  The  ailments  were  much 
more  varied  and  serious  than  among  the  Bakhtiaris. 

The  last  march  was  a  hot  and  tedious  one  of  eighteen 
miles,  along  an  uninteresting  open  valley,  much  ploughed, 


LETTER  xv  A  JANIKI  KHAN  369 

bounded  by  sloping  herbage-covered  hills,  surmounted  by 
parapets  of  perpendicular  rock.  After  passing  the  large 
Moslem  village  of  Baldiji,  we  re-entered  the  Bakhtiari 
country,  ascended  to  the  Bakhtiari  village  of  Dastgird, 
descended  to  the  plain  of  Chigakhor,  skirted  its  southern 
margin,  and  on  its  western  side,  on  two  spurs  of  the 
great  Kuh-i-Kaller  range,  with  a  ravine  between  them, 
the  camps  were  pitched.  In  two  days  most  of  the  tents 
were  blown  down,  and  were  moved  into  two  ravines 
with  a  hill  between  them,  on  which  the  Sahib  on  his 
arrival  pitched  his  camp. 

My  ravine  has  a  spring,  with  exactly  space  for  my 
tent  beside  it,  and  a  platform  higher  up  with  just  room 
enough  for  the  servants.  A  strong  stream,  rudely  brawl- 
ing, issuing  from  the  spring,  disturbs  sleep.  There  is 
no  possibility  of  changing  one's  position  by  even  a  six- 
feet  stroll,  so  rough  and  steep  is  the  ground.  Mirza 
bringing  my  meals  from  the  cooking  tent  has  a  stick  to 
steady  himself.  At  first  there  was  nothing  to  see  but 
scorched  mountains  opposite,  and  the  green  plain  on 
which  the  ravine  opens,  but  the  Hakim's  tent  was  soon 
discovered,  and  I  have  had  278  "patients  '!  Before  I 
am  up  in  the  morning  they  are  sitting  in  rows  one 
behind  another  on  the  steep  ground,  their  horses  and 
asses  grazing  near  them,  and  all  day  they  come.  One  of 
the  chiefs  of  the  Janiki  tribe  came  with  several  saddle 
and  baggage  horses  and  even  a  tent,  to  ask  me  to  go 
with  him  to  the  great  plain  of  Khana  Mirza,  three  days' 
march  from  here,  to  cure  his  wife's  eyes,  and  was 
grieved  to  the  heart  when  I  told  him  they  were  beyond 
my  skill.  He  stayed  while  a  great  number  of  sick 
people  got  eye-lotions  and  medicines,  and  then  asked  me 
why  I  gave  these  medicines  and  took  so  much  trouble. 
I  replied  that  our  Master  and  Lord  not  only  commanded 
us  to  do  good  to  all  men  as  we  have  opportunity,  but 


370  JOURNEYS  IX  PERSIA  LETTER  xv 

Himself  healed  the  sick.  "You  call  Him  Master  and 
Lord,"  he  said ;  "  He  was  a  great  Prophet.  Send  a  ffaJcim 
to  us  in  His  likeness." 

I  have  heard  so  much  of  Chigakhor  that  I  am  dis- 
appointed with  the  reality.  There  are  no  trees,  most  of 
the  snow  has  melted,  the  mountains  are  not  very  bold  in 
tin  ir  features,  the  plain  has  a  sort  of  lowland  look  about 
it,  and  though  its  altitude  is  7500  feet,  the  days  and 
even  nights  are  very  hot  The  interest  of  it  lies  in 
it  being  the  summer  resort  of  the  Ilkhani  and  Ilbegi, 
a  fact  which  makes  it  the  great  centre  of  Bakhtiari 
life.  As  many  as  400  tents  are  pitched  here  in  the 
height  of  the  season,  and  the  coming  and  going  of 
Khans  and  headmen  with  tribute  and  on  other  business 
is  ceaseless. 

The  plain,  which  is  about  seven  miles  long  by  three 
broad,  is  quite  level.  Near  the  south-east  end  is  a 
shallow  reedy  mere,  fringed  by  a  fertile  swampiness,  which 
produces  extraordinary  crops  of  grass  far  out  into  the 
middle  of  the  level. 

Near  the  same  end  is  a  rocky  eminence  or  island,  on 
which  is  the  fortress  castle  of  the  Ilkhani.  The  "  season  " 
begins  in  early  June,  when  the  tribes  come  up  from  the 
warm  pastures  of  Dizful  and  Shuster,  to  which  they 
return  with  their  pastoral  wealth  in  the  autumn,  after 
which  the  plain  is  flooded  and  frozen  for  the  winter.  At 
the  north  end  are  the  villages  of  Dastgird  and  Aurugun, 
and  a  great  deal  of  irrigated  land  producing  wheat. 
Except  at  that  end  the  plain  is  surrounded  by  mountains  ; 
on  its  southern  side,  where  a  part  of  the  Sukhta  range 
rises  into  the  lofty  peak  of  Challeh  Kuh,  with  its  snow- 
slashes  and  snow-fields,  they  attain  an  altitude  of  12,000 
or  13,000  feet. 

It  is  not  easy,  perhaps  not  possible,  to  pass  through 
the  part  of  the  Bakhtiari  country  for  which  we  are  bound, 


LETTER  xv      TIJE  "  SEASON  "  AT  CHIGAKHOR  371 

without  some  sort  of  assistance  from  its  feudal  lords,  a 
responsible  man,  for  instance,  who  can  obtain  supplies 
from  the  people  Therefore  we  have  been  detained  here 
for  many  days  waiting  for  the  expected  arrival  of  the 
Ilkhani.  A  few  days  ago  a  rumour  arrived,  since  un- 
happily confirmed,  that  things  were  in  confusion  below, 
owing  to  the  discovery  of  a  plot  on  the  part  of  the 
Ilkhani  to  murder  the  Ilbegi.  Stories  are  current  of  the 
number  of  persons  "put  out  of  the  way"  before  he  at* 
t  lined  his  present  rank  for  the  second  time,  and  it  is  not 
"  Bakhtiari  custom  "  to  be  over-scrupulous  about  human 
life.  No  doubt  his  nephew,  the  Ilbegi,  is  a  very  dangerous 
rival,  and  that  his  retainers  are  bent  on  seeing  him  in  a 
yet  higher  position  than  he  now  occupies. 

A  truce  has  been  patched  up,  however,  and  yesterday 
the  Ilkhani  and  Isfandyar  Khan  arrived  together,  with 
their  great  trains  of  armed  horsemen,  their  harams,  their 
splendid  studs,  their  crowds  of  unmounted  retainers,  their 
strings  of  baggage  mules  and  asses  laden  with  firewood, 
and  all  the  "rag,  tag,  and  bobtail"  in  attendance  on 
Oriental  rulers.  Following  them  in  endless  nocturnal 
procession  come  up  the  tribes,  and  day  breaks  on  an  ever- 
increasing  number  of  brown  flocks  and  herds,  of  mares, 
asses,  dogs,  black  tents,  and  household  goods.  When  we 
arrived  there  were  only  three  tents,  now  the  green  bases 
of  the  mountains  and  all  the  platforms  and  ravines  where 
there  are  springs  are  spotted  with  them,  in  rows  or  semi- 
circles, and  at  night  the  camp  fires  of  the  multitude  look 
like  the  lights  of  a  city.  Each  clan  has  a  prescriptive 
right  to  its  camping-ground  and  pasture  (though  both  are 
a  fruitful  source  of  quarrels),  and  arrives  with  its  ketchuda 
and  complete  social  organisation,  taking  up  its  position 
like  a  division  of  an  army. 

When  in  the  early  morning  or  afternoon  the  tribe 
reaches  the  camping -ground,  everything  is  done  in  the 


372  JOV BNEY8   IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xv 

t  ordi-rly  way.  The  infants  are  put  into  their  cradles, 
the  men  clear  the  ground  if  necessary,  drive  the  pegs  and 
put  up  tin-  pult-s,  ;md  if  there  be  wood — of  which  there  is 
not  a  stick  here — they  make  a  fence  of  loose  branches  to 
contain  the  camp,  hut  the  women  do  the  really  hard  work. 
Their  lords,  easily  satisfied  with  their  modicum  of  labour, 
soon  retire  to  enjoy  their  pipes  and  the  endless  gossip  of 
Bakhtiari  life. 


A    PERSO-BAKHTIAKI    CRADLE. 


After  the  ground  has  been  arranged  the  tents  occupy 
invariably  the  same  relative  position,  whether  the  camp 
is  in  a  row,  a  semicircle,  a  circle,  or  streets,  so  that  the 
cattle  and  flocks  may  easily  find  their  owners'  abodes 
without  being  driven.  The  tents,  which  are  of  black  goats' 
hair  cloth,  are  laid  out  and  beaten,  and  the  women  spread 
them  over  the  poles  and  arrange  the  rest,  after  which  the 
inside  is  brushed  to  remove  the  soot.  In  a  good  tent,  reed 
screens  are  put  up  to  divide  the  space  into  two  or  more 


LETTER  xv  A  KHAN'S  TEXT  373 

portions,  and  some  of  the  tribes  fence  round  the  whole 
camp  with  these  screens,  leaving  one  opening,  and  use  the 
interior  for  a  sheepfokL  The  small  bushes  are  grubbed 
up  for  fuel.  The  women  also  draw  the  water,  and  the 
boys  attend  to  the  flocks.  Many  of  the  camps,  however, 
have  neither  fences  nor  environing  screens,  and  their  in- 
mates dwell  without  auy  attempt  at  privacy,  and  rely  for 
the  safety  of  their  flocks  on  big  and  trustworthy  dogs, 
of  which  every  camp  has  a  number. 

When  they  move  the  bulk  of  the  labour  again  falls 
on  the  women.  They  first  make  the  baggage  into  neat 
small  packages  suited  for  the  backs  of  oxen ;  then  they 
take  up  the  tent  pegs,  throw  down  the  tents,  and  roll 
tin-in  up  in  the  reed  screens,  all  that  the  men  undertake 
being  to  help  in  loading  the  oxen.  It  is  only  when  a 
division  halts  for  at  least  some  days  that  this  process  is 
gone  through.  In  fine  weather,  if  a  tribe  is  marching 
daily  to  its  summer  or  winter  camping  -  grounds,  the 
families  frequently  sleep  in  the  open. 

The  chiefs  tent  is  always  recognisable  by  its  size,  and 
is  occasionally  white.  I  have  seen  a  tent  of  a  wealthy 
Khan  fully  sixty  feet  long.  A  row  of  poles  not  more  than 
ten  1'rrt  likjh  supported  the  roof,  which  was  of  brown 
haircloth,  the  widths  united  by  a  coarse  open  stitch. 
On  the  windward  side  the  roof  was  piuned  down  nearly 
to  the  top  of  a  loosely-laid  wall  of  stones  about  three  feet 
high.  The  leeward  side  was  quite  open,  and  the  roof, 
which  could  be  lowered  if  necessary,  was  elevated  and  ex- 
tended by  poles  six  feet  high.  If  the  tent  was  sixty  feet 
long,  it  was  made  by  this  arrangement  twenty  feet  broad. 
At  the  lower  end  was  a  great  fire-hole  in  the  earth,  and 
the  floor  of  the  upper  end  was  covered  with  rugs,  quilts, 
and  pillows,  the  household  stuff  being  arranged  chiefly  on 
and  against  the  rude  stone  wall. 

The  process  of  encamping  for  a  camp  of  seventy  tents 


374  JOURNEYS  IN  PERSIA  LETTER  xv 

takes  about  two  hours,  and  many  interruptions  o< 
especially  the  clamorous  demands  of  unweaned  infants  of 
mature  years.  De-camping  the  same  number  of  tents 
takes  about  an  hour.  A  free,  wild  life  these  nomads  lead, 
lull  of  frays  and  plots,  but  probably  happier  than  tin,- 
average  lot. 

Below  the  castle  is  the  great  encampment  of  the 
chiefs,  brown  tents  and  white  bell  tents,  among  which 
the  tall  white  pavilion  of  the  llkani  towers  conspicuously. 
The  Ilkhani  and  Ilbegi  called  on  me,  and  as  they  sat 
outside  my  tent  it  v:as  odd  to  look  back  two  years  to 
the  time  when  they  were  fighting  each  other,  and  barely 
two  weeks  to  the  discovery  of  the  plot  of  the  dark- 
browed  Ilkhani  to  murder  his  nephew.  The  Ilkhani's 
face  had  a  very  uncomfortable  expression.  Intrigues 
against  him  at  Tihran  and  nearer  home,  the  rumoured 
enmity  of  the  Prime  Minister,  the  turbulence  of  some  of 
the  tribes,  the  growing  power  of  the  adherents  of  Isfand- 
yar  Khan,  and  his  own  baffled  plot  to  destroy  him  must 
make  things  .unpleasant  Several  of  the  small  Khans 
who  have  been  to  see  me  expect  fighting  here  before  the 
end  of  the  summer.  The  Ilkhani  had  previously  availed 
himself  of  the  resources  of  my  medicine  chest,  and  with 
so  much  benefit  that  I  was  obliged  to  grant  a  request 
which  deprived  me  of  a  whole  bottle  of  "  tabloids." 

In  the  evening  I  visited  the  ladies  who  are  in  the  castle 
leading  the  usual  dull  life  of  the  haram,  high  above  the 
bustle  which  centres  round  the  Ilkhani's  pavilion,  with  its 
crowds  of  tribesmen,  mares  and  foals  feeding,  tethered 
saddle  horses  neighing,  cows  being  milked,  horsemen 
galloping  here  and  there,  firing  at  a  mark,  asses  bearing 
wood  and  flour  from  Ardal  being  unloaded — a  bustle 
masculine  solely. 

Isfandyar  Khan,  with  whose  look  of  capacity  I  am 
more  and  more  impressed,  and  Lutf  received  us  and  led 


LETTER  xv  THE  FORT  AT  CHIGAKHOR  375 

us  to  the  great  pavilion,  which  is  decorated  very  hand- 
somely throughout  with  red  and  blue  appligiU  arabesques, 
and  much  resembles  an  Indian  durbar  tent.  A  brown 
felt  carpet  occupied  the  centre.  The  Ilkhani,  who  rose 
and  shook  hands,  sat  on  one  side  and  the  Ilbegi  on  the 
other,  and  sons,  Khans,  and  attendants  to  the  number 
of  200,  I  daresay,  stood  around.  We  made  some  fine 
speeches,  rendered  finer,  doubtless,  by  Mirza ;  repeated 
an  offer  to  send  a  doctor  to  itinerate  in  the  country 
for  some  months  in  1891,  took  the  inevitable  tea,  and 
while  the  escorts  were  being  arranged  for  I  went  to  the 
fort 

It  is  the  fortress  of  the  Haft  Lang,  one  great 
division  of  the  Bakhtiari  Lurs,  which  supplies  the  ruling 
dynasty.  The  building  is  a  parallelogram,  flanked  by  four 
round  towers,  with  large  casemates  and  a  keep  on  its 
southern  side.  It  has  two  courtyards,  surrounded  by 
stables  and  barracks,  but  there  is  no  water  within  the 
gates,  and  earthquakes  and  neglect  have  reduced  much 
of  it  to  a  semi-ruinous  condition.  Over  the  gateway  and 
along  the  front  is  a  handsome  suite  of  well -arranged 
balconied  rooms,  richly  decorated  in  Persian  style, 
the  front  and  doors  of  the  large  reception-room  being 
of  fretwork  filled  in  with  amber  and  pale  blue  glass, 
and  the  roof  and  walls  are  covered  with  small  mirrors 
set  so  as  to  resemble  facets,  with  medallion  pictures  of 
beauties  and  of  the  chase  let  in  at  intervals.  The  effect 
of  the  mirrors  is  striking,  and  even  beautiful.  There 
were  very  handsome  rugs  on  the  floor,  and  divans 
covered  with  Kashan  velvet ;  but  rugs,  divans,  and  squabs 
were  heaped  to  the  depth  of  some  inches  with  rose  petals 
which  were  being  prepared  for  rose-water,  and  the  prin- 
cipal wife  rose  out  of  a  perfect  bed  of  them. 

These  ladies  have  no  conversation,  and  relapse  into 
apathy  after  asking  a  few  personal  questions.  Again 


JOURNEYS  IN   I'KKSIA  LETTER  xv 

are  properly  elective,  the  office  of  Khan  or  chief  is  strictly 
luTfilitJiry,  though  it  does  not  necessarily  fall  to  the  eldest 
son. .  This  element  of  permanence  gives  the  Khan  almost 
supreme  authority  in  his  tribe,  and  when  the  Ilkhani  is 
a  weak  man  and  a  Khan  is  a  strong  one,  he  is  practically 
independent,  except  in  the  matter  of  the  tribute  to  the 
Shah. 

It  was  in  curl •! ML:  the  power  of  these  Khans  by  steer- 
ing a  shrewd  and  even  course  among  their  feuds  and  con- 
flicts, by  justice  and  consideration  in  the  collection  of 
the  revenues,  and  by  rendering  it  a  matter  of  self-interest 
for  them  to  seek  his  protection  and  acknowledge  his 
headship,  that  Sir  A.  H.  Layard's  friend,  Mohammed 
Taki  Khan,  succeeded  in  reducing  these  wild  tribes  to 
something  like  order,  and  Hussein  Kuli  Khan,  "  the  last 
real  ruler  of  the  Bakhtiaris,"  pursued  the  same  methods 
with  nearly  equal  success. 

But  things  have  changed,  and  a  fresh  era  of  broils 
and  rivalries  has  set  in,  and  in  addition  to  tribal  feuds 
and  jealousies,  the  universally-erected  line  of  partisanship 
between  the  adherents  of  the  Ilkhani  and  Ilbegi  produces 
anything  but  a  pacific  prospect  These  broils,  and  the 
prospects  of  fighting,  are  the  subjects  discussed  at  my  tent 
door  in  the  evenings. 

The  Dastgird  encampment  that  evening  was  the 
romance  of  camp  life.  On  the  velvety  green  grass  there 
were  four  high  black  canopies,  open  at  the  front  and  sides, 
looking  across  the  green  flowery  plain,  on  which  the 
Ilkhani's  castle  stood  out,  a  violet  mass  against  the  sun- 
set gold,  between  the  snow-streaked  mountains.  There 
were  handsome  carpets,  mattresses,  and  bolsters ;  samovars 
steaming  on  big  brass  trays,  an  abundance  of  curds,  milk, 
and  whey,  and  at  one  end  of  the  largest  tent  there  were 
two  very  fine  mares,  untethered,  with  young  foals,  and 
children  rolling  about  among  their  feet  I  was  placed, 


t.    » 

L 

•r' 

o 


eo 
a. 


LETTER  xv  FEMALE  ORNAMENT  379 

as  usual,  on  a  bolster,  and  the  tent  filled  with  people,  all 
shouting,  and  clamouring  together,  bringing  rheumatism 
("  wind  in  the  bones  "),  sore  eyes,  headaches  ("  wind  in  the 
head  "),  and  old  age  to  be  cured.  The  Khan's  wife,  a 
handsome,  pathetic-looking  girl,  had  become  an  epileptic 
a  fortnight  ago.  This  malady  is  sadly  common.  Of  the 
278  people  who  have  come  for  medicines  here  thirteen 
per  cent  have  had  epileptic  fits.  They  call  them  "  faint- 
ings,"  and  have  no  horror  of  them.  Eye  diseases,  includ- 
ing such  severe  forms  as  cataract  and  glaucoma,  rheu- 
matism, headaches,  and  dyspepsia  are  their  most  severe 
ailments.  No  people  have  been  seen  with  chest  com- 
plaints, bone  diseases,  or  cancer. 

In  the  largest  tent  there  was  a  young  mother  with  an 
infant  less  than  twenty-four  hours  old,  and  already  its 
eyebrows,  or  at  all  events  the  place  where  eyebrows  will 
be,  were  deeply  stained  and  curved.  At  seven  or  eight 
years  old  girls  are  tattooed  on  hands,  arms,  neck,  and 
chest,  and  the  face  is  decorated  with  stars  on  the  fore- 
head and  chin. 

Though  children  of  both  sexes  are  dearly  loved 
among  these  people,  it  is  only  at  the  birth  of  a  son  that 
there  is  anything  like  festivity,  and  most  of  the  people 
are  too  poor  to  do  more  even  then  than  distribute  sweet- 
meats among  their  friends  and  relations.  The  "  wealthier" 
families  celebrate  the  birth  of  a  firstborn  son  with  music, 
feasting,  and  dancing. 

At  the  age  of  five  or  six  days  the  child  is  named,  by 
whispering  the  Divine  name  in  its  ear,  along  with  that 
chosen  by  the  parents. 

After  a  long  visit  the  people  all  kissed  my  hand, 
raising  it  to  their  foreheads  afterwards,  and  the  Khan 
made  a  mounting  block  of  his  back,  and  rode  with  me  to 
the  main  path.  It  was  all  savage,  but  the  intention  was 
throughout  courteous,  according  to  their  notions.  It 


380  JOl  IN  PERSIA  LKTTE*  xv 

became  pitch  dark,  and  I  lost  my  way,  and  shouM  1. 
pulled  Screw  over  a  precipice  but  for  his  sagacious  self- 
will.  One  of  the  finest  sights  I  have  seen  was  my  own 
camp  in  a  thunderstorm,  with  its  white  tents  revealed 
by  a  flash  of  lightning,  which  lighted  for  a  second  tl it- 
black  darkness  of  the  ravine. 

The  next  morning  the  Khan  of  Dastgird's  servants 
brought  fifteen  bottles  and  pipkins  for  eye-lotions  and 
medicines.  In  spite  of  the  directions  in  Persian  which 
Mirza  put  upon  the  bottles,  I  doubt  not  that  some  of 
the  eye-lotions  will  be  swallowed,  and  that  some  of  the 
medicines  will  be  put  into  the  eyes ! 

June  8. — The  last  evening  has  come  after  a  busy  day. 
The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  getting  ready  for  the  start 
to-morrow  have  been  great  The  iron  socket  of  my  tent- 
pole  broke,  there  was  no  smith  in  the  valley,  and  when 
one  arrived  with  the  Ilkhani,  the  Ilkhani's  direct  order 
had  to  be  obtained  before  he  would  finish  the  work  he 
had  undertaken.  I  supplied  the  iron,  but  then  there 
was  no  charcoal.  I  have  been  tentless  for  the  whole 
day.  Provisions  for  forty  days  have  to  be  taken  from 
Chigakhor,  and  two  cwts.  of  rice  and  flour  have  been 
promised  over  and  over  again,  but  have  only  partially 
arrived  to-night.  Hassan  has  bought  a  horse  and  a  cow, 
and  they  have  both  strayed,  and  he  has  gone  in  search  of 
them,  and  Mirza  in  search  of  him,  and  both  have  been 
away  for  hours. 

Of  the  escorts  promised  by  the  Ilkhaui  not  one  man 
has  arrived,  though  it  was  considered  that  the  letter  to 
him  given  me  by  the  Amin-es-Sultan  would  have  obviated 
any  difficulty  on  this  score.  An  armed  sentry  was  to 
have  slept  in  front  of  my  tent,  and  a  tufangchi  was  to 
have  been  my  constant  attendant,  and  I  have  nobody. 
Of  the  escort  promised  to  the  Agha  not  one  man  has 
appeared.  In  this  case  we  are  left  to  do  what  General 


LETTER  xv      AN  ESCORT  NOT  FORTHCOMING  381 

Sehindler  and  others  in  Tihran  and  Isfahan  declared  to 
be  impossible,  viz.  to  get  through  the  country  without  an 
escort  and  without  the  moral  support  of  a  retainer  high 
in  the  llkhani's  service.  Whether  there  have  been 
crooked  dealings ;  or  whether  the  Ilkhani,  in  spite  of  his 
promises,  regards  the  presence  of  travellers  in  his  country 
with  disfavour  ;  or  whether,  apprehending  a  collision,  both 
the  Ilkhani  and  Ilbegi  are  unwilling  to  part  with  any  of 
their  horsemen,  it  is  impossible  to  decide. 

I.  L.  B. 


END  OF  VOL.  I 


Printed  by  R.  &  R.  CLARK,  Edinburgh, 


^ 


UnJv*r*Jty  of 
SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
405  Hilgard  Av»nue,  Loc  Angetet,  CA  90024-1388 
Return  thit  material  to  the  library 
from  which  It 


* 


: 


AKCfl 


ANCfL 


^       X\\UIBRARY< 


